COVID-19: 15-member medical team arrive Nigeria from China, amidst controversy

COVID-19: 15-member medical team arrive Nigeria from China, amidst controversy
  • As China lifts lockdown after 76 days

15-medical personnel from China, on Wednesday arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The medical personnel who arrived on a chattered Air Peace aircraft, landed around 5:15 pm, and were received by the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Zhou Pingjian; Executive Director, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, Mr Jacques Liao, senior officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health and others.

The visit of the medical team has sparked up controversies between the Nigerian Medical Association and other groups in the country.

However, the facilitators of the visit, CCECC, explained that the medical team who arrived the country to treat its staff won’t be staying more than 30 days, adding that they would arrived with their drugs, and equipment to carry out COVID-19 tests on the company’s workers in the country.

“All members of the working team have tested negative for COVID-19 and shall commence their stay in Nigeria by spending 14 days in quarantine.

“The primary purpose of the team is to provide CCECC employees with critical and necessary healthcare assistance. They are also coming with adequate personal protective equipment and medical items for the employees.” Mr Jacques Liao said.

Meanwhile, China has ended its lockdown of Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, as the city reemerges from a deadly outbreak that is now raging across the globe- CNN reports.

Passengers wear face-masks as they form a queue at the Wuhan Wuchang Railway Station in Wuhan, early on April 8, as they prepare to leave the city for the first time in more than ten weeks- source: CNN
On Wednesday, China will reopen its borders after 76 days, healthy residents and visitors will be allowed to leave Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, with trains and flights resumed and highway entrances reopened.
Wuhan’s railway authority estimated more than 55,000 passengers will leave Wuhan by train Wednesday, with about 40% bound for the Pearl River Delta region, a major manufacturing hub in China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The easing of travel restrictions on Wuhan is the latest milestone in China’s fight against Covid-19. The country reported nearly zero new local infections in recent weeks, leading to similar restrictive measures being lifted for other parts of Hubei province late last month.
Luo Ping, an epidemic control official in Wuhan, told CCTV Sunday that the lifting of the lockdown marks a “full restart” of the city’s economic and social activities from their previous “suspension.” But he warned the city faces an arduous task preventing imported cases and a recurrence of local infections.
“After work and production resumed, the movement of people increased and so did the risk of cross-infections from mass gatherings. Some residents have dropped their guard and don’t wear masks when they go on the streets,” he told the broadcaster.
“The reopening of Wuhan does not mean the all-clear, neither does it mean a relaxing of epidemic prevention and control measures (within the city),” he said.

 

editor

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