The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, has warned that the pandemic is “definitely” not over, asking Nigerians to remain careful and vigilant.
Mustapha, during the briefing of the PTF in Abuja yesterday, reminded Nigerians that “there is presently no known vaccine for the virus and that all over the world, non-pharmaceutical measures still remains the most effective and avoiding being infected remains the best choice for everyone.”
He recalled that June 1, Nigeria had commenced the second phase of the eased lockdown in the national response to the battle against COVID-19 for a period of four weeks.
He said as the government entered the closing week of the second phase and approached a decision point, “we shall be carefully considering the fact of a growing pandemic and risk perception in our efforts to balance between lives and livelihood.
Mustapha said non-compliance had been largely fuelled by scepticism and ignorance about the disease.
He said while the PTF attributed the rising number of confirmed cases and fatalities to increased testing, it also confirmed the extent of the spread within communities, especially the 21 high burden local governments identified as accounting for over 60 percent of infections nationwide.
He urged Nigerians to learn from Europe, China to the United States of America whose rising cases and reported resurgence in some cases should also be of concern.
“We had informed you that Brazil shares several cultural, demographic and climatic affinities with us.
“If any lesson is to be learnt, Brazil should be a subject of interest that’ll make us change our behaviour,” Mustapha said.
The Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, said there might be insufficient facilities for case management soon in states as community transmission had led to high number of confirmed cases.
PTF National Coordinator Dr Sani Aliyu said many Nigerians “do not believe that COVID-19 is real, with many thinking that it’s a scam or a ploy to access funds meant for public welfare.
“Let us not wait for the virus to reach disastrous proportions before we begin to believe and act. We’ve already seen this happen in many other countries, we must learn from their experiences to mitigate preventable fatalities.”
Reopening of Airports
Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Musa Nuhu, said a date for resumption of commercial domestic flights would be announced next week.
He said a dry run test would be conducted at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja ahead of flight resumption.
He explained that the sector was stalling in the flights resumption because it still needs to close some gaps.
He said the NCAA had had significant progress in the readiness of the industry to restart.
“The gaps have been closed, but we still have a few gaps within the aviation ecosystem and this will be closed hopefully in the next couple of days,” Nuhu said.
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