Ehanire said this on Wednesday during the briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

“To ensure maximum testing capacity, the case definition and testing criteria have been expanded to include not only contacts of COVID-19 cases with fever and respiratory tract symptoms but all persons with fever and respiratory tract symptoms of unknown cause,” he said.

Speaking further, he noted that the emergence of more cases of community transmissions has informed the need to quickly identify, test and where necessary isolate patients.

The health minister went further to explain that there are three levels of isolation centres.

The first, according to him, is for suspected cases of COVID-19 who are awaiting tests and results.

The second level is for confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild or moderate symptoms who need little or no clinical management and only need to be isolated from the community for the time they are infectious.

The third level is for confirmed COVID-19 cases with severe or critical symptoms who need enhanced clinical management or intensive care.

He, therefore, appealed to citizens to comply with invitations to isolation centres, saying “this is your best option of recovery and for detecting possible complications”.