President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday told Nigerians not to panic over the outbreak of Coronavirus in Nigeria.

Buhari made the appeal while expressing sadness over the confirmation of a case of Covid-19 infection in Lagos State.

In a statement signed by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, the president commended the Federal Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies whose diligence and efficiency enabled the case to be detected, diagnosed and isolated quickly, even while swift measures were taken to identify and follow up on those with whom the index patient came into contact.

Buhari commended the responses of the Federal Ministry of Health and Governments of Lagos and Ogun States as well as other relevant agencies to the reported incident and called for vigilance on the part of all citizens and responsible government agencies.

He urged, “Nigerians not to panic about the news of this first case of Covid-19 in our country, as undue alarm would do us more harm than good.”

Buhari added: “Instead, Nigerians should strictly observe the advisories disseminated by the Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organization (WHO), on the best way to prevent infection.

“This information is being broadcast in all available media by the Federal Ministry of Information.”