Over the past few days, there has been an unusually high rate of Covid-19 cases and the Federal Government has linked this to the festivities that took place during the Christmas and New Year.
Mr. Boss Mustapha, the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 expressed his concern and hopes that the numbers would not escalate beyond the control of the national response.
He said “Closely associated with that is the increasing daily numbers that we are recording. On the 4th of January, we recorded 1,204 infections. This was the highest daily number ever recorded since we commenced the national response.” He explained the current analysis showing effect of the festivities that took place. He appealed to citizens to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 protocol.
Furthermore, he added that the President has approved the establishment of at least one oxygen plant in each state of the federation to aid gas available for life support for COVID-19 patients.
Boss Mustapha stated that the Private Sector Coalition in the fight against COVID-19 (CACOVID) are committed to providing 100 cylinders of oxygen daily till the end of March 2021 to critical care centres in Abuja. According to him, the efforts being made have been to in a bid to ensure the lives of more Nigerian lives from the pangs of the virus.
He complained about the low testing rates in most states of the federation. He also stated that there are a total of 100 laboratories across the country, including 71 public labs, 22 private labs and 7 corporate labs all for the purpose of improving the testing process.
He said, “Regrettably, there is still very low testing in a number of states. For clarity, the DG NCDC will elaborate on the spheres of responsibility in testing and the Federal Government has sufficiently supported the States to enable them to support surveillance and IPC.”
He discredited the rumours spreading about Coronavirus not existing and called on all Nigerians to join in the public enlightenment move.
Boss Mustapha addressed the issue of importation of the virus. He said,“ Finally, I wish to inform you that the PTF has commenced the sanctions on passengers who defaulted day-7 post-arrival tests. Their passport numbers have been published and travel restriction imposed for a period of six months, effective January 1, 2021.
