Eye-popping 779 new COVID-19 cases bump total to 24,077 as more States fester unchecked on eve of airport reopening

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed 779 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 24,077 in the country.

The agency made this known on Saturday night on its official Twitter handle.

“On the 27th of June 2020, 779 new confirmed cases and 4 deaths were recorded in Nigeria. No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours.

“Till date, 24077 cases have been confirmed, 8625 cases have been discharged and 558 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

“The 779 new cases are reported from 22 states; Lagos-285, Rivers-68, FCT-60, Edo-60, Enugu-56, Delta-47, Ebonyi-42, Oyo-41, Kaduna-19, Ogun-18, Ondo-16, Imo-12, Sokoto-11, Borno-9, Nasarawa-8, Abia-5, Gombe-5, Kebbi-5, Kano-4, Yobe-3, Ekiti-3, Osun-2,” NCDC said.

A breakdown of the 23,298 confirmed cases is presented below:

Meanwhile, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on Saturday re-opened for business with the observance of safety protocols following the Coronavirus (COVID-19), pandemic.

The agency also conducted simulation exercise at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja to test all protocols designed to ease the spread of COVID-19 at the Airports ahead of flight resumption.

The simulation exercise which began Saturday morning saw passengers go through all the protocols before boarding the Aero Contractor flight on a B737 marked NG110 with 51 passengers on board.

The Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, while speaking during the exercise, explained that the flight simulation was to achieve five things, which included maintaining physical distance, wearing protective materials such as face mask and face shield, maintaining hygiene, cleaning the area and surfaces, and seating in an environment that is clean and hygienic while maintaining physical distance.

“So we can board the aircraft decontaminated so we don’t contaminate others. All of the things that has happened here is to ensure we don’t spread COVID-19,” he said.

“We will announce all the protocols again before opening. But you need to be at the airport three hours ahead of your flight,” he stated.

“The experience is quite nice but it takes a bit of time which is why you will need to be at the airport three hours before your local flight. For international flight, we may do five hours,” he added.

Explaining further, Sen. Sirika said: “We have demonstrated here in a mock manner a sick person. You saw how the area was condoned off, the sick taken away to safe area and the scene disinfected. You saw the health workers in their PPEs come around to evacuate the sick person. All this is to adhere to the new normal.

“You also saw that if you were served tea or beverages, you pick it yourself in a disposable cup. Everything for me in this demo exercise worked very well. We came and began maintaining physical distance right from the outside.

“All the markings are there, and we respected that. During the check in procedure, we were shielded from the check-in officials, we got our boarding passes and during boarding, we detached our boarding passes and dropped the other end without physical contact. So contacts with people have been reduced so we can remain safe,” he said

Speaking on the protocol inside the flight, Sirika noted, “There will also be social distancing in the aircraft. But new ideas are coming on board on how to remain seated to make the carbin economical okay and to ensure we don’t infect each other”.