Lagosians and Nigerians received with shock the breaking news in the early hours of Friday, February 28, 2020 that the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) which has claimed thousands of lives in China and neighbouring countries have been confirmed in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, Lagos.

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire confirmed this in a statement, Friday shortly after the Lagos State Government through the State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi announced it in Lagos.

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In the heat of the epidemic, there have been worries in the country in ascertaining the level of preparedness of the federal, state and local governments and relevant health agencies and measures they have put in place in case the virus is spotted.

Notably, the Lagos Government has been on its heels in making sure that it responds swiftly if any case of the virus is spotted in the state.

The State, in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) constituted a 5-man committee on Epidemic Preparedness Response Plan (EPRP), across the 57 local councils of the state.

Also, the agency had organised training workshops to equip the team on how to go about responding to prospective patients.

According to Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, the state government has commenced surveillance tour with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) of livestock and bush meat markets across the state to test animals for components of monkeypox.

As part of the precautionary measures being put in place, the Federal Ministry of Health, on February 3, carried out an inspection tour of the Isolation Centre under construction at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada.

Over the years, there has not been sustained efforts at beefing up security at entry points around the country. To make matters worse, the level of security and health emergency arrangements in most of the country’s international airports lack the capacity to withstand any form of a life-threatening health-related outbreak.

In 2014, due to the porosity of the country’s health emergency arrangement the country’s first confirmed case of the Ebola virus was through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos

Apart from Lagos and Abuja, there has not been any level of preparedness from other states known to the public.

Therefore, there was urgent need for the state governors to wake up to the reality to respond swiftly by putting in place the necessary emergency health centres, draft adequate health personnel from respective state ministries of health and agencies with aggressive public awareness on what to do and how to carry out necessary hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus.