NPA to Set Up Isolation Centre for Seaman with Coronavirus
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said it will set up isolation centre for vessel crew who have symptoms of coronavirus.
This was disclosed by the General Manager, Medical Services of NPA, Christy Akpa, when she addressed stakeholders on the effort to check the spread of the virus in the seaport.
She said vessels coming from Asia have been put on red alert.
“I want to assure the whole nation that NPA is well prepared to handle any incident of suspected case on board any vessel that shows symptoms of corona virus. We have already heightened our alert on ships that are coming from Iran, Taiwan, China or other countries that have been affected by this virus. We are making arrangement for isolation centres to hold the people that are sick while we bring in the state government that will isolate all and take them to the isolation centres with dedicated ambulances.
“When these ships berth, we don’t just leave them, we continue to monitor. It behoves on us that until the ship sail out of our territorial waters, it is mandatory that we continue to monitor to ensure that we fight this virus.
“We are highly collaborating with the Port Health Services of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Lagos State Government through the Commissioner of Health. In addition to screening temperatures of every port users, we have developed a weekly log knowing the incubation period of this corona virus, so we don’t just scan your temperature once and go to bed but we are constantly monitoring with the Port Health Services and also keeping this log on daily and weekly basis, even when there is no confirmed incident. The log is mainly targeted at the crew because these are ships that are coming from outside the country” .
The General Manager Corporate and Strategic Communications of NPA, Engr. Adams Jatto, who equally spoke at the event the measure by the NPA added that the move by the authority was the only way to ensure that the virus does not enter the country through the nation’s gateways.
According to Jatto, “We are aware that the virus is spreading round the world in a very rapid form and of course there is need for us to curtail it. We have been informed that there is no cure for this disease and the best thing for us to do is to have a precautionary preventive measure for us to ensure that it does not spread. So on the basis of this, we have to call the terminal operators and of course the stakeholders for us to rub minds together and see how best what can be done to curtail this menace”.
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