President Muhammadu Buhari has extended the presidential lockdown order on Ogun, Lagos, and Abuja to two more weeks to be able to contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Buhari said this in a nationwide broadcast, yesterday.
According to the president, the approach to the virus remains in 2 steps – First, to protect the lives of fellow Nigerians and residents living here and second, to preserve the livelihoods of workers and business owners.
“With this in mind and having carefully considered the briefings and Report from the Presidential Task Force and the various options offered, it has become necessary to extend the current restriction of movement in Lagos and Ogun states as well as the FCT for another 14 days effective from 11:59 pm on Monday, 13th of April, 2020. I am therefore once again asking you all to work with government in this fight.
“This is not a joke. It is a matter of life and death. Mosques in Makkah and Madina have been closed. The Pope celebrated Mass on an empty St. Peter’s Square. The famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris held Easter Mass with less than 10 people. India, Italy and France are in complete lockdown. Other countries are in the process of following suit. We cannot be lax.
“The previously issued guidelines on exempted services shall remain.
“This is a difficult decision to take, but I am convinced that this is the right decision. The evidence is clear.
“The repercussions of any premature end to the lockdown action are unimaginable”.
Also, President Muhammadu Buhari has issued a new directive to ministers as he extended the Coronavirus lockdown order for another 14 days.
Buhari, while addressing the nation in a nationwide broadcast, yesterday, directed the ministers to develop a comprehensive policy for a ‘Nigerian Economy functioning with COVID-19’.
He said: “To ensure our economy adapts to this new reality, I am directing the Ministers of Industry, Trade and Investment, Communication and Digital Economy, Science and Technology, Transportation, Aviation, Interior, Health, Works and Housing, Labour and Employment and Education to jointly develop a comprehensive policy for a ‘Nigerian economy functioning with COVID-19’.
“The ministers will be supported by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and Economic Sustainability Committee in executing this mandate.
“I am also directing the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Security Adviser, the Vice Chairman, National Food Security Council and the Chairman, Presidential Fertiliser Initiative to work with the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 to ensure the impact of this pandemic on our 2020 farming season is minimized.”
The President further thanked the health workers at the frontline fighting COVID-19 as he commended the achievement so far during these days of lockdown.
It would be recalled that Buhari had on March 29 ordered a total movement restriction in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states.
According to the president, the order was based on the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC.
Similarly, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19 pandemic, yesterday, said the spread of the virus in the country has slowed down.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed this during the daily media briefing by the task force in Abuja.
He further stated that based on the evaluation of experts, assessment of available data and experiences of other nations currently in the same situation, the PTF has submitted its recommendations to President Muhammadu Buhari, and urged Nigerians to please await further pronouncements in this regard.
Mustapha, who is also the chairman of the PTF, said 92 per cent of contacts tracing has been achieved.
He assured Nigerians that the task force was already making headway on the fight against the pandemic, urging the public to continue to maintain calm, observing all the advisories and to continue showing understanding by respecting the measures instructed in containing the spread of the virus.
“Ladies and gentlemen, since the broadcast of the President on Sunday, 29th March, 2020, the Presidential Task Force has, with your support accomplished the following objectives that underpinned the measure: ‘Slow down the spread in order so as not to overwhelm our fragile health system; intensified case identification, testing and isolation. Intensified contact listing and isolation-(92 per cent of all contacts have been identified).
“Increased laboratories by 100 per cent – (Lagos -3; Abuja-2; Irua-1; Ibadan UCH-1; Iree-1; Jos-1; Kano-1; Abakaliki-1), there are now 11 laboratories in the network.
“Increased testing by 50 per cent, to the current capacity of 1,500 tests per day, with over 6,000 tests done. Procurement concluded for new high throughput testing by end of the month.
“Distributed Personal Protective Equipment to over 40,000 healthcare workers – there have been no stock outs. Trained over 7,000 Healthcare workers on infection prevention and control. Deployed NCDC teams to 19 states. Visited Lagos to evaluate the readiness.
“Despite all of these, the PTF is convinced that we must deliver more. We have also been assessing the impact of the lockdown and the level of compliance by Nigerians.
“While we recognize the difficulties associated with such unprecedented action, we remain certain, however, that it is a step in the right direction for us to secure a healthier tomorrow.
“Based on the evaluation of experts, assessment of available data and experiences of other nations currently in the same situation, the PTF has submitted its recommendations to Mr. President and I urge Nigerians to please await further pronouncements in this regard.
“The PTF continues to appeal to all Nigerians to remain calm, maintain personal hygiene, observe physical distancing and stay at home”, he said.
The Federal Government also recommended the use of face masks by Nigerians in order to reduce their susceptibility to infection by the novel Coronavirus.
According to the government, Nigerians do not have to resort to using ‘medical-grade’ or surgical masks which are normally discarded after four hours of usage, advising that homemade masks which are cheap and reusable would serve the same purpose.
The Health Minister, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the usage of mask was not compulsory, but only a recommendation by the task force.
“We said we are recommending. We are not saying it is compulsory, we are recommending. Secondly, we also said that, it does not have to be hospital-grade mask. It does not have to be medical or surgical-grade. You can make your own and preferably, your mask can be washable. You can wash it and iron it and reuse.
“The ones many of us are using here now are single-use which you have to throw away but you do not need that for day to day activities and the purpose of that mask is to shield you and shield your opposite because if anyone is emitting any kind of droplet or particles by way of coughing or sneezing or when people are shouting, laughing or exclaiming, you can capture them through the barrier.
“It can even be a scarf you tie across your mouth so that you do not run the risk of transmitting it to someone else. That is why we said it must be washed every evening, preferably in warm water and then dried and ironed. If you do that, you are safe to reuse it the next day. We are making that recommendation and also particularly stretching it to food vendors in the interest of their customers”, he said.
The National Coordinator of the Task Force, Dr Sani Aliyu, on his part, said newly-opened laboratories in the country are currently underutilized.
According to him; “On the issue of testing, I know there has been a lot in the Press recently. Part of the reason why we have not proceeded as fast as we can is because of the demand as well. We are not having as much demand for testing in those laboratories that we have activated and I am asking those laboratories particularly the ones that were activated in the last few days to please put forward processes that will allow them to key in, particularly in areas where there are suspicions of people having COVID-19.
“This does not only include people who have had contact or those who have travelled abroad. It also includes persons with unusual respiratory tract infections, particularly severe respiratory tract infections requiring hospitalization and I will ask that those laboratories that we have activated in the last one week should widen their scope when it comes to selection of testing based on our protocols so that we can have more positives identified and isolated.
“There is no room for massive community testing for Coronavirus. I would rather do a hundred tests and get 10 positives rather than do 1, 000 tests and get 10 positives. It is all a out improving the efficiency of the tests. It is better to test persons that have symptoms because what we call the pre-test probability is higher.
“When we talk about incubation period, this is the period between when you get an infection and the time the symptoms happen. And the incubation period is when the virus multiplies in the body and it is not excreted. If you are in the incubation period, you will not be excreting the virus and the test is looking for the presence of the virus.
“Therefore, if you do the test during the incubation period which may range from between two, three days to 14 days, the test will be negative. In other words, you could still be in an incubation period and it will give you a false assurance that everything is alright. That is why we do not recommend doing the tests in the absence of symptoms.
“The reason why in some cases some people might be asymptomatic and still have a positive result, which is extremely rare, is because a lot of people might have mild symptoms that you will not even notice. This is why we need to do the test at the right time in order to pick up the virus.
“So, we are not going to start doing massive testing in the communities. It will be inefficient, it will be expensive and it is not going to help us increase the number of positives”, he explained.
In his remarks, the Aviation Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika, who spoke on the face-off between the ministry and the Rivers State Government, said the Federal Government was currently dialoguing with the state government to effect the release of two pilots of Caverton Helicopters who were last week arrested and remanded at a state facility in Port Harcourt for breaching an Executive Order made by the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike.