The Federal Government of Nigeria says the overriding public interest is a critical factor propelling the government policies on COVID-19 pandemic management in the country.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, says looking back at the national response, using science, data and experience from other countries, tremendous progress has been made and the government is beginning to notice that the curve is flattening.
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He said this in Abuja yesterday at the briefing of the PTF.
He, however, noted that this positive development would be taken with vigilance and cautious optimism “based on the fact that we’re convinced that we’ve not tested enough, we’ve only recently reopened our international flights and that nations that had opened up their economies have done a re-think following the resurgence of the cases in their countries”.
He said the PTF was closely watching the developments at the airports and taking-in comments and observations sent by Nigerians and passengers.
The SGF appealed to all health workers to return to work, saying the nation could not any further disruption to its health system.
He said that the on-going strike had been very costly in terms of human lives, but such losses could be avoided.
He said the government would continue to do its best to push through the negotiations with the unions and hopefully, reason shall prevail for the striking health workers to resume duty.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said the fatalities of the COVID-19 in the country were worsened, especially by those reporting late for treatment, when their clinical condition had deteriorated.
He said as of yesterday, Nigeria had recorded a total of 56,604 COVID-19 positive cases out of a total of 482,321 samples tested, giving a positivity rate of 11.7 percent.
He said that 47,872 persons had been treated and discharged, but that the nation had sadly lost 1091 persons to the disease.
He said to improve chances of survival, his ministry would be distributing oxygen concentrators and ventilators to various health institutions to be able to provide oxygen therapy to persons presenting with respiratory distress till they were referred to treatment centers.
PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, said the government could not bear the cost of COVID-19 test for incoming international passengers as it would be too much a burden on the nation’s resources.
He said the number of passengers coming into the country was above 5,000 and it would be a huge burden for the government to take up the financial burden of their tests for COVID-19.
He also announced that the 72 hours COVID-19 test result for the incoming passengers had been extended to 120 hours in line with the new policy across the country.
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