London, April 14, 2020 (AltAfrica)-Nigeria will build new isolation centres in strategic locations such as the country’s airports and land borders, Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari announced on Monday evening during his second nationwide address since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic in the country

Buhari’s assurances came same day the Nigeria Immigration Service asked the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to as a matter of urgency provide isolation centres at border Communities between Nigeria and the Republic of Cameroon as thousands of troubled Cameroonians to troop into the country for asylum.

Pictures of the 4-storey training facility in Abuja getting converted to a 300-bed isolation and treatment centre in IDU. Medical supplies are arriving for the office building to be ready as a centre against #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/1Mv0bopE8R

— ᴏᴍᴀsᴏʀᴏ ᴀʟɪ ᴏᴠɪᴇ™☤ (@OvieAli) April 7, 2020

The Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service in Benue State, Mr. Oko-Jaja Adango who was on a visit to Abande Village, a border Community between Nigeria and Cameroon stated that Cameroonians seeking asylum in Nigeria at all entry points must undergo a supervised 14 days quarantine due to concerns about possible trans-border spread of the infections following an increase in the influx of Southern Cameroonians seeking refuge in some neighbouring states in Nigeria, particularly Taraba, Benue and Cross River States.

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“We are at Abande control post, Benue State. We need an isolation center for those who may come in here. This is the frontier between Nigeria and Cameroon. You can see that this makeshift bridge links us to Cameroon. You can imagine that as rickety as it looks, its’ still giving service to bring people into Nigeria and this is where Immigration Officers and other agencies operate in the control of movement of persons’’.

‘’Now that we have the issue of COVID-19 and the borders are closed, we do not expect that people should cross the borders. But on the event that they do come around, we are trying to arrange a system where they are processed by the medical team’’.

President Buhari who extended the lockdown imposed on Lagos, Ogun and Abuja for another two weeks said “Lagos and Abuja today have the capacity to admit some 1,000 patients each across several treatment centres.

“Many State Governments have also made provisions for isolation wards and treatment centres. We will also build similar centers near our airports and land borders.

“Using our resources and those provided through donations, we will adequately equip and man these centres in the coming weeks.

“Our hope and prayers are that we do not have to use all these centres. But we will be ready for all eventualities.

Meanwhile, confirmed cases of coronavirus have increased to 343 in Nigeria after 20 new infections were recorded on Monday.

Nigeria Confirms 20 New COVID-19 Cases, Infections Toll Hit 343: The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 20 new positive cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. NCDC disclosed this in a tweet on Monday evening, bringing the… https://t.co/ki05ifQkwB pic.twitter.com/QL7zhVTOsq

— Aljazirahnigeria (@aljazirahnig) April 13, 2020

Of the 20 new cases, 13 were recorded in Lagos State, two in Edo, two in Kano, two in Ogun and one in Ondo.

The deadly virus has spread to 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control made this known via its Twitter handle on Monday.

It tweeted, “Twenty new cases of #COVID-19 have been reported as follows: 13 in Lagos, two in Edo, two in Kano, two in Ogun and one in Ondo.

“As of 09:50 pm on the 13th April, there are 343 confirmed cases of #COVID-19 reported in Nigeria. 91 have been discharged with 10 deaths.

“Currently, Lagos has 189 new cases, FCT- 56, Osun- 20, Edo- 16, Oyo- 11, Ogun – nine, Bauchi – six, Kaduna – six, Akwa Ibom – five, Katsina – five, Delta – three, Enugu – two, Ekiti – two, Rivers – two, Kwara – four, Ondo – three, Benue – one, Niger – one, Anambra – one and Kano – three.”