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By Emmanuel Adeleke
The Nigerian embassy in Mexico has been closed due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
This was contained in a statement issued on Monday by Abimbola Tooki, Special Adviser on Media to Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico, Adejare Bello.
According to Tooki, six staff of the embassy tested positive for COVID-19.
The closure, according to the ambassador, will last for a week, starting from August 8.
He said the affected staff are undergoing treatment, adding that the situation is under control.
“The closure of the missions to forestall further spread of the virus. A total of 6.82 million cases with 328,000 deaths have so far been recorded in Mexico since the outbreak of the virus,” the statement read.
Bello noted that appropriate quarters like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja and that of Mexico have been duly informed about the development.
He said the temporary closure will allow the Embassy to be fumigated and put all other precautions in place.
Bello directed all home-based officers and the local staff of the mission to work from home pending further directives.
“Mexico has administered at least 209 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs two doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 82.2% of the country’s population.The temporary closure will allow the Embassy to be fumigated among other precautionary measures.
“On April 10, 2021, Mexico reported a large number of confirmed new deaths after consolidating data from last year to include deaths that were not confirmed at the time. Two-thirds of the 2,192 deaths reported on date had occurred in 2020 and at the time were not marked down as COVID-19 fatalities,” he said.