COVID-19: FG Urges Nigerians To Respect Approved Guidelines

The Federal Government has appealed to Nigerians to adhere to proven guidelines on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to curb its spread in the country.

Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, made the call on Monday in Abuja at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) daily briefing on COVID-19.

Ehanire said that it was very risky to treat COVID-19 patients in private hospitals or at home, advising affected persons to please contact the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) through its toll free lines.

The minister said that non-essential travels should be postponed, adding that testing is not enough if persons tested positive were not isolated and treated.

According to him, every sacrifice on the part of citizens will help in defeating COVID-19.

Mr Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the PTF on COVID-19, said that since the President‘s broadcast on March 29, the team had made significant strides.

Mustapha said that the PTF had been able to slow down the spread in order to avoid overwhelming the country’s fragile health system and had intensified case identification, testing and isolation.

The SGF also said that the team and other stakeholders had also intensified contact listing and isolation, adding that 92 per cent of all contacts have been identified.

He said that the country had increased laboratories by 100 per cent and there was now 11 laboratories in the network with Lagos having  3; Abuja 2; Irua 1; Ibadan UCH 1; Iree 1; Jos 1; Kano 1, and Abakaliki 1.

The chairman said the PTF had increased testing by 50 per cent to the current capacity of 1,500 tests per day, with over 6,000 tests done and would conclude procurement of a new high throughput testing by end of the month.