Rate of COVID-19 spread in Nigeria has slowed down – Task Force

By Kazeem Bisiriyu

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has said the spread rate of the virus in the country has been slowed down.

It added that 92 per cent of contacts tracing had been achieved.

The chairman of the PTF and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made this disclosure on Monday during the daily media briefing in Abuja.

The SGF while reeling out the achievements of the task force thus far, confirmed that its recommendations have been submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari, who will announce the next line of action during his address to the nation, having observed developments and considered reports from all relevant quarters.

The task force chairman while assuring that the country was already making headway in the fight, however, urged the public to continue to observe all the advisories and to continue showing understanding by respecting the measures instructed put in place in containing the spread of the virus.

“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:

Slowing down the spread in order not to overwhelm our fragile health system.
Intensified case identification, testing and isolation.
Intensified contact listing and isolation (92% of all contacts have been identified)
Increased laboratories by 100% – (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%, to the current capacity of 1,500 tests per day, with over 6,000 tests done.
Procurement concluded for new high throughput testing by the 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.