President Muhammadu Buhari has spoken up for the first time since the confirmation of Nigeria’s first case of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

This is coming amid public panic prompted by the confirmation of Nigeria’s first case of coronavirus, a few days ago.

President Buhari released a statement on his Twitter, urging citizens to “refrain from panic” because “undue alarm would cause more harm than good”.

He wrote:

We must refrain from panic; undue alarm would cause more harm than good. The only information citizens should pay attention to is the one being shared by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Federal & State Ministries of Health, and the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

I commend the excellent responses of the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria Center for Disease Control, Governments of Lagos & Ogun, and all other agencies, to the Coronavirus situation in Nigeria. I urge all Nigerians to strictly observe all the advisories being disseminated.

The patient, who is an Italian citizen working in Nigeria, flew into Lagos from Milan last week and precautionary measures have been carried out as swiftly as possible in preventing the spread of the virus in other parts of the state and Nigeria at large.