The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Thursday declared the deadly coronavirus pandemic would “absolutely” get to all the 36 states of the country.
NCDC Director General Chikwe Ihekweazu said this while featuring on Channels Television Sunrise Daily programme monitored in Abuja.
Already, the disease has affected 407 individuals in Nigeria across 22 states, with 128 persons discharged and 12 dead.
As at the time of this report, the states that were yet to ‘catch’ the virus include Cross River, Yobe, Borno, Ebonyi, Gombe, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Adamawa, Nasarawa and Kogi among others.
Raising concerns over the deadly virus, Dr. Ihekweazu said it would spread to all states even as he compared the virus to Lassa fever.
“We have responded to Lassa smoothly and nobody shut down the country because it wasn’t necessary, the response was fairly efficient.
“Now, COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria, there is no reason why it won’t – it is a respiratory virus.”
He said NCDC would continue to be transparent with its operations and emphasised that the virus “will circulate in Nigeria, absolutely no doubt.
“We just activated the lab in Kano a few days ago. So, these are the results of the increased testing capacity that we are providing for the country.”
“The tests are fairly robust; I can’t say 100 per cent but they are as close to that as possible. We had the highest number of positive cases in a single day.”
The NCDC Wednesday announced 34 new cases of coronavirus across five states, the highest daily figure of new coronavirus cases in the country since the first case was detected in February.
“Since the onset of the outbreak, we are testing a lot more (and) that is beginning to show. It is only so much we can do from NCDC; we are working with the state governments,” Ihekweazu said.
“They actually own the response at the state and local levels, and we need all of them now. We really have to face the reality that this is an outbreak, this is a virus.
“It will circulate in Nigeria, absolutely no doubt and our responsibility as a country is to prepare more, to be able to detect, isolate, treat, list contacts, and stop transmission,” Premiumtimes quoted the NCDC boss as further saying on the television programme
FG
Meanwhile, the federal government Thursday said the actions of state governors towards relaxing the current lockdown imposed in various parts of the country would have dire consequences on the people.
Chairman Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha said this at the daily press briefing on efforts at containing the virus.
He said the situation in Kano state from one index case to fatality of having 21 confirmed cases was an indication the country needed tighter movement restrictions to fight the spread of COVID-19 disease.
“This is not the time to relax any lockdown. A state has gone from one index case to 21. So, it is a serious business please. It is not a joking matter and this is not the time to play any game. It is only our collective resolve as a country that can help us deal with this pandemic.
“I will continue to emphasise the fact that we have one national response, and scientifically proven, the only way that you can drastically reduce transmission is through the lockdown.
“Once people don’t come in contact with each other, we will be able trace those that have appeared on our radar as persons of interest, follow them up, track them, if need be test them, if possible take them into isolation, move them from cohabiting with other people that are not infected and give them the appropriate care.
“But as long as we allow business as usual, people getting together, partying, then we should be prepared to deal with the consequences of our actions. I will continue to make this passionate appeal that given this two weeks, I must commend the governors that have taken bold steps in locking down their states so that the needful will be done.
“The Quarantine Act signed by Mr. President has direct bearing on Abuja, Lagos and Ogun, so we have responsibility to ensure that this lockdown in these three locations are effective and geared towards producing the desired result for which the extension is granted,” he said.
The SGF also called on garment industries in the country to go into mass production of masks.
“Let me also encourage all our garment factories and tailors all over the nation that this is the time to start producing locally, using our local fabrics, the Ankara, the leather and all other materials that we have.
“The advice is that as much as possible, we should wear our masks whenever we are outside our homes, that way, we’ll reduce the chances, in addition to other necessary things that you need to do, of infection or infecting others,” he said.
Also speaking, National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, said inter-states travels are escalating community transmission of the disease, especially the mass smuggling of people out of Lagos state in trucks.
He appealed to Nigerians to take the lockdown order by the federal government and some states seriously, stressing that the success of the fight against spread of the disease in the country depended largely on how much attention and respect the public give to the guidelines issued by government.
He also called on the distributors of palliative materials to observe basic health and safety protocols, and work with local authorities to make the processes orderly and less-hazardous.
“We have noticed that community spread is now being traced to people travelling across state borders. We need to try and restrict our movements in order to stop the spread of this coronavirus infection, this is particularly pertinent with regards to the news of people being smuggled in trucks out of Lagos.
“I will like to highlight the need for donors to safeguard life and basic health protocols during the distribution of palliatives within local communities. It is important that they maintain health and safety, the rise of aggressive behaviour and non-conformity to physical distancing is unacceptable and a major risk to our communities. It is serious public safety concern.
“I enjoin donors to work closely with local authorities and to ensure that the mass gathering restrictions and the physical distancing guidance that we have given is abided by,” he said.
He urged donors to ensure that items and resources being donated were relevant to the needs of the people and that the goods being donated were not below standards.
Sani also stressed the need to ensure acquisition of standard supplies by state governments, especially the issue of procuring protective gears for the frontline healthcare workers in their states
..FCTA goes tough
In a related development; the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Thursday convicted no fewer than 20 violators of presidential lockdown order.
The violators were fined N1, 000 and N5, 000, while those whose vehicles were seized would get them back after the lockdown has been lifted, with the likelihood of paying for demurrage.
The administration also expressed its readiness to clampdown on residents who engaged in early morning fitness exercises, especially jogging around town.
Chairman of the enforcement team, Comrade Ikharo Attah stated this while giving an update on the level of compliance with emergency regulations put in place by both the federal government and the FCT Administration to control the spread of the virus.
He said a fake policeman was also arrested in the Mpape area of the territory, adding that more mobile courts would be established soon.
“We have at least five mobile courts and we are hoping to open more with the assistance of the legal unit of the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS).
“As of 1pm, we already secured 20 convictions, while two pleaded not guilty. We also arrested a man who is not a policeman but who was wearing a police fez cap and he has been detained at the police station in Mpape.
“We were on the Kubwa-Mpape road as early as 4am but we are going to tighten our grip on these areas because when we locked down Mpape to traffic, we discovered that residents were sneaking out massively on foot to access Maitama.
“While we are continuing with our general enforcement, we are going to start arresting joggers as from Friday. We now have thousands of people coming out in some areas to jog, very early in the morning. We are going to arrest them,” he stated.
