Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed 90 new coronavirus infections, even as the federal government has said that some returning Nigerians are presenting fake COVID-19 certificates and in the process sabotaging government effort to curb the spread of the virus.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in a Tweet late on Tuesday night said the country reported five new deaths as a result of the virus within the last 24 hours.
According to the NCDC, the new figures put the country’s total virus load at 56,478, with 44,430 recoveris and 1,088 fatalities.
The health agency further revealed that the 90 new cases were recorded in eight states, with Lagos reporting 33 new cases.
Other states with new cases include Plateau -27, Kaduna -17, Ogun -6, FCT -4, Anambra -1, Ekiti -1, and Nasarawa -1.
PTF raises alarm, says some returnees presenting fake COVID-19 results
Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has raised the alarm that international travellers from some specific countries, who are COVID-19 positive, have been making their way into the country by presenting fake PCR results.
The National Coordinator of the task force, Dr Sani Aliyu, disclosed this on Tuesday, in response to the joint Senate committees on Health and Aviation on the testing procedures, following the reopening of the international airspace.
According to him, in one instance, up to 40 per cent of passengers in a single flight tested positive for COVID-19 despite having tested negative before boarding from their respective countries.
Consequently, Aliya said an adjustment has been made to the validity period of PCR tests to be presented before boarding from seven to four days.
After about five months of being on lockdown due to the pandemic, International flights resumed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Saturday.
The first flight arrived from Lebanon, at about 2:30 pm and passengers did not disembark in the usual way.
They went through the finger and they were batched in twenties to the port of entry, in line with the Federal Government’s COVID-19 protocols.
Nigeria has currently recorded 56,470 cases of the coronavirus.
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