The Federal Government has announced the disbursement of N3m to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to strengthen its preparedness for the Covid-19 (Coronavirus).

The sum of N71million was initially disbursed by the government to scale up interventions at port health services, making it a total of N386 million disbursed so far.

The permanent secretary, ministry of health, Abdullahi Abdullaziz, who confirmed this at a press conference on Friday in Abuja, said the total monies disbursed is part of the N620 million requested by the health minister.

The minister of state for health, Olurunnimbe Mamora, while giving an update on Nigeria’s level of preparedness, said all five suspected cases of Coronavirus in Nigeria tested negative and that there is currently no confirmed case in Africa.

The minister disclosed that the Inter-ministerial and Multisectoral Committee are working with the NCDC and meets twice a week or more to strengthen its preparedness and response activities.

Mamora also said that Nigeria is receiving technical support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the African Centre for Disease Control and some other relevant health organizations.

The minister noted that as at Friday, there were a total of 75,748 confirmed cases with 2129 deaths and a mortality rate of 2.4 percent.

Olorunnimbe while giving an update on the strange killer disease detected in Benue state, said preliminary investigation indicatee that it was lead poisoning but said investigations were still continuing.

Also giving an update on the Lassa fever which has claimed at least 103 lives, the minister said a rapid national response team had been deployed to 9 states, which include Ondo, Edo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kaduna, Taraba, Delta, Kano, and Borno states.

Mamora however noted that the primary health care centres need to be strengthened, but urged the public to maintain good environmental hygiene and avoid fake news.