Health
By Paul Ukpabio
An indication of the severity of the spread of coronavirus was echoed at the national briefing by the Presidential Task Force, PTF, on COVID-19, which took place in Abuja, on Monday, February 8..
Boss Mustapha, PTF chairman, reeled out the scary figures: while the spread cases hit 139,748 as at two days ago, active Cases was: 24,556 (17 percent), Discharged: 113,525 (81.2 percent), Deaths: 1,667 (1.2 percent) and Tests cases: 1,398,630.
Realnews reports that testing is ongoing and aggressively being pursued as a viable strategy. He said he will continue to appeal not only to the citizens to get tested but also call on sub-national entities to ensure that capacity of the laboratories that have been established within their jurisdictions be fully maximized. This he said, will help reduce the burden on the National Reference Laboratory and the attendant lengthy turnaround time for test results.
He stressed further that the PTF through the NCDC, is working with the Africa CDC on genomic surveillance. And a total of 13 B117 variant strains have so far been detected in Nigeria. With six out of the number were detected in the last one week from samples collected between November and January.
He also recalled that the Coronavirus Disease, COVID-19, Health Protection Regulations 2021 signed by Mr. President is now fully operational.
“The PFT wishes to reiterate that the provisions contained in the Regulations are lucid and are applicable to all entities, public or private sectors. I therefore wish to remind all MDAs of the strong need to deploy technology for meetings, retreat, and to avoid large gatherings that may violate the Regulations. If such plans are on-going, they should be modified forthwith,” he said.
On the shortage of oxygen for case management, Mustapha said that such is gradually becoming a thing of the past. He announced that the private sector, CACOVID, is supporting the provision of oxygen nationwide and allocations have been made to States.
He warned that the PTF considers the violation of protocols very seriously and urges international passengers arriving in Nigeria to ensure compliance with the international travel protocols and observe the non-pharmaceutical intervention measures while in the country.
He assured that the process for accessing vaccines and the plans for getting it to the last mile is progressing.
“The PTF wishes to appeal to all Nigerians and particularly, the media to recognize that humanity is at war with an unseen enemy. Nations are also struggling to take poll positions to access the same commodity which is in obvious short supply. We must therefore play our critical complementary roles of educating the public on the benefits of the vaccines in overcoming the pandemic.
“The PTF similarly wishes to firmly restate that Nigeria was never disqualified from accessing the COVID-19 vaccine. The PTF has debunked the story and so did the WHO. Misinformation of Nigerians in any form or shape will be counterproductive and dangerous to our health, security and economy. Confidence in the vaccine is reaffirmed and access is reassured. We appeal to our media outlets to cross check their stories before publication,” he said.
Regarding the new burden of test imposed by the Emirates Airlines and KLM on outbound passengers, the PTF Chairman recalled an earlier briefing through the ministry of aviation on the NCAA and declared: “…after due consideration, we promptly suspended the lifting of outbound passengers on Emirates and KLM for 72 hours until this was resolved. The subject is still under deliberations within our laws and international aviation rules.”
-Feb, 9, 2021 @ 6:36pm
Tags: Lifting of outbound passengers on Emirates and KLM suspended for 72 hours
