Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has his temperature checked during a diplomatic meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, Nigeria March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says it will take a while before Nigerians can go back to their normal lives.
Speaking at the presidential task force briefing on COVID-19 on Friday, Ihekweazu said he knows that the journey has been challenging for Nigerians, adding that the sacrifices made are appreciated by the government.
“As we travelled round the country over the last four days, we could really see how difficult it has been and how hard Nigerians have been trying to do their very best,” he said.
“We know it is a difficult journey, but we also know that we will eventually exit this stage and we start our normal lives. But that stage is still a while to come and I ask for your endurance, support and patience.
“Lots of effort are going on across the world to find new therapy to find vaccines. Everybody is pushing very hard in this direction. So we need to stay firm and continue trying.
“We need to adopt unprecedented level of caution and continue carrying out the preventive measures that we advise severally.”
As of 11:30 pm on April 23, Nigeria had recorded 981 confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of which 197 patients have recovered while 31 persons have died.
