Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The World Health Organisation has urged the Nigerian government to strengthen surveillance in nine Coronavirus prone states.
WHO Technical Officer on Health Emergence Programme, Ms Dhamari Naidoo made the appeal at a media sensitisation workshop organized by the WHO, in Abuja.
She said that some of the states in Nigeria that are highly prone to coronavirus infection includes: Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Delta, and Bayelsa.
According to her, Nigeria needs to strengthen surveillance by placing port health service officers on alert at all points of entry.
She, however, noted that Nigeria has strengthened diagnostic testing capacity at National Reference Laboratory in Gaduwa, Abuja and at LUTH, Lagos currently being supported to implement testing.
Preparedness measures
Ms Naidoo said WHO has identify 13 countries of Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, which due to their direct links or high volume of travel, to China need to also increase their preparedness measures.
She also said that the top priority countries were WHO’s first areas of focus, but the organisation supports all countries in the region in their preparation efforts.
She said countries also need to prepare for containment.
Also speaking at the workshop, WHO communication expert, Ms Charity Warigon, said that the workshop was aimed at acquainting the media with terms and terminology in reporting the dreaded coronavirus.
Ms Naidoo said that the media was viral in the effort to educate the public and combat fake news about Coronavirus.
She appealed to Nigerian journalists to always verify information and facts before publishing, as ordinary people depend on the media for directions.
