As the Federal Government intensifies effort to secure safe and right vaccines for Nigerians, the media, traditional, religious as well as community leaders have been urged to constantly inform members of the public of the need to follow the protocols in winning the war against the virus.
Briefing the press on Thursday on the current situation of the pandemic in the country, Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha said “the PTF is very concerned about the increasing daily numbers that we are recording.”
According to him “yesterday January 6, 2021, we recorded 1,664 infections. This is yet another all-time high in Nigeria and we must all take full responsibility through compliance and vigilance. It is better to wear a face mask than being on a ventilator.”
“In our previous briefings, we have consistently appealed to all Nigerians to stay safe and act in most defensive and protective ways by complying with the NPIs already prescribed. We urge you all, at this point, to rise and be our brother’s keeper by taking the expected responsibility.”
Sounding extremely concerned, he said “remind your neighbors to do the right thing in view of the imminent danger facing us as a country and the world in general.”
“Our records show that our test per million (TPM) is at 4,695 while our test positivity rate (TPR) is at 9.6% and our Case Fatality Rate has increased to 3% haven recorded 1,324 deaths, these data are not encouraging.”
Continuing, the PTF boss stated that “Nigeria just crossed the 1million mark for testing across the federation. Testing remains a key strategy of our National Response.”
The PTF has urged the Sub-Nationals to “revamp testing and contact tracing in the bid to curb the menace of this dreaded virus. It is only through testing that we can know our status and treat early if infected.”
He stressed that “this will provide among other things, evidence for effective feedback, course correction, experience learning and sharing, as well as optimize documentation systems for future reference.”
The PTF chieftain disclosed that efforts were being made to increase the supply of oxygens to the country’s health facilities across the country just as he hinted that “Mr. President has approved the establishment of at least one new Oxygen plant in each state of the Federation, while the existing ones will be made fully functional.”
For their support over time, the PTF has expressed appreciation to the Private Sector as well as the Nigerian Air Force.
To overcome some of the challenges in contending with the pandemic, Mustapha said “the PTF will intensify the risk communication and community engagement to create awareness. The share level of doubts about the virus is alarming and I call on every one to become advocate in support of the National Response,” he added.
He further stated that the “PTF is working to develop new Health Protection Regulations to support existing COVID-19 protocols and to strengthen compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions across the country.”
According to him, “it has become embarrassing to note that some Nigerians continue to present fake results when travelling outside the shores of this country. This remains a major source of concern to the Federal Government.”
In the light of this, “the PTF has directed private laboratories to immediately put in place measures to validate results and ensure that all passengers are registered on the travel portal before samples are processed to stop this activity.”
Commenting further, he stated that “the PTF is aware that the world is at a critical phase of infections. We are constantly reviewing our strategy to emerging situations especially in risk communication, vaccine hesitancy, fake news/disinformation.”
The PTF has therefore called on the general public to remain focused on the drive to reduce the level of infection and make our country safe again.
“We urge the Sub-Nationals to enforce relevant measures that will help to curb the effect of this virus on our lives and livelihood,” he added.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/fg-urges-leaders-at-all-levels-to-intensify-awareness-on-covid-19-protocols/
