August 02, (THEWILL) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the COVID-19 pandemic might not be the last the world would witness, even as it called for sustained fight against the virus.
WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, disclosed this at the Ninth General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Epidemiological Society of Nigeria (EPISON), held in Port Harcourt.
“COVID-19 pandemic has taught us a great lesson on preparedness. It is not yet over. It may not likely be the last pandemic. Therefore, we must sustain the tempo”, Mulombo said.
Mulombo noted that Coronavirus has provided Nigeria and the global community an opportunity to strengthen immunisation, build capacity of health workers and strengthen disease surveillance.
Earlier, Chairman, Local Organising Committee of EPISON’s ninth AGM, Dr. Omosivie Maduka, said the event was imperative to evaluate the epidemic and intelligence tools used in the control of the pandemic.
“At the end of the conference, we will issue a communiqué that will state our key observations concerning our successes and challenges with the COVID-19 response in various aspects and we will be proffering our expert opinion on what needs to be done, to be able to take us from where we are to where we need to be, which is a complete and total control of the pandemic”, he said.
Meanwhile, Nigeria, on Sunday received 4 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the United States.
The doses, which came on two planes, were received by officials from the UN children agency, UNICEF, on behalf of Nigeria at the airport in Abuja.
It was the second batch of vaccines to arrive in Africa’s most populous nation after 4 million doses were delivered in March under the COVAX scheme.
As at Monday morning, Nigeria has recorded a total 174,315 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 2,149 deaths, amid fear of a third wave of COVID-19.
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