Coronavirus – Universities on red alert

Following the discovery of a case of the fast-spreading coronavirus disease, otherwise known as COVID-19, at Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria on Friday 28 February, some universities have been placed on red alert by their managements and government authorities, writes Mojeed Alabi for Premium Times.

Officials of Lagos State and Osun State, as well as vice-chancellors of some universities, said measures are being taken to avert the spread of the case. The vice-chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Olanrewaju Fagbohun, said he had just instructed appropriate officials, including his deputies and the director of the health services, to step up the already existing prevention campaigns. He said it would not be useful, however, to create panic. Fagbohun’s counterpart at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said the existing sensitisation activities are already being strengthened as a precautionary measure.

The spokesman at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Kunle Akogun, said the university is on red alert and urged everyone to follow instructions aimed at protecting them. In Lagos State, the immediate past public relations officer of the ministry of education, Kayode Sutton, said even before he handed over to the ministry’s new spokesman on Wednesday 26 February, public places across the state had been placed on red alert. Sutton said the schools, in particular, have always been the first point of call for such campaigns, and that the awareness measures being carried out are simply for reintroduction of safety measures put in place during the Ebola crisis.
Full report on the Premium Times site