Ehanire called on primary health centres to make efforts towards containing the spread of coronavirus at the grassroots.
Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health has said that the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria has gone beyond the belief that only the rich can contract it.
Ehanire while speaking at the presidential task force briefing on Wednesday, April 22, 2020, said the virus has spread to local communities at the grassroots.
On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, coronavirus spread to 24 states as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 117 new cases, bringing the total tally of confirmed cases in the country to 782.
Ehanire called on primary health centres across the country to make efforts towards containing the spread of the disease at the grassroots.
“The role of primary healthcare is very important in this exercise in the sense that now we are in the community transmission phase.
“We have passed that era when people used to think that the coronavirus infection was something for big men and women who came from abroad. And because it came from abroad, they are the ones who would suffer for it. Now that it has gone to the community level, it is really down at the grassroots and the role of the primary healthcare comes into play.
“It is very important for them to be able to do the surveillance, to raise the index of suspicion, to find persons who should go for treatment and sometimes to move around the community and be able to identify people who might have symptoms but have not gone to the facility.”