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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja.
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic has said the widespread of lack of compliance with guidelines and regulations to skepticism and ignorance about the virus.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, stated this on Thursday during the briefing by the task force in Abuja.
He reiterated that said the increased numbers of COVID-19 positive cases are linked to increased testing capacity, adding the virus has spread widely in the communities.
The SGF also noted that tracing and testing of cases had been made more difficult because of the fear of stigmatisation, which he said had been preventing people from coming out to seek help.
“The PTF also continued to assess the developments nationwide and found that non-compliance has been largely fueled by skepticism and ignorance about the disease.
“We also noted that stigmatization has further impacted on the willingness of people to come out to seek help and even tell their stories. The nature of this pandemic demands that we must detect and treat it in order to address it.
“Let me emphasise, therefore, that COVID-19 is not a condition to be ashamed of as it has no respect for status, nationality, race, creed, tribe, etc. Every person infected must be treated to prevent spread and avoidable fatalities.
“You would have noticed that the number of confirmed cases and fatalities released in the last few days have been on the high side. While we attribute this to increased testing, it also goes to confirm the extent of the spread within our communities, especially the twenty-one (21) high burden LGAs identified as accounting for over 60% of infections nationwide”, Mustapha said.
The SGF also regretted that reports show that hospitals were still rejecting patients, a situation which he said had been resulting in death of patients suffering from other ailments.
He, however pleaded with hospitals to stop rejecting people who approach them for treatment of other ailments other than COVID-19, advising them to be following protocols issued for containment of the disease.
“We continue to plead with these hospitals not to reject patients but to follow the protocols for managing COVID-19 while receiving them and most importantly, to seek necessary accreditation from the Ministry of Health and NCDC to manage COVID-19 cases”, he said.
Mustapha also said the PTF would be approaching President Muhammadu Buhari at the weekend to submit its assessment of of the success or otherwise of the national response efforts, as well as giving him their recommendations and urged Nigerians to await the next step in the fight against the disease.
“I wish to inform you that by the end of this week, the PTF would be submitting a report containing our assessment and recommendations to Mr. President. We therefore urge Nigerian to await next steps.
“In furtherance of the collaboration with sub-national entities, the PTF joined the Nigerian Governors Forum in a virtual meeting yesterday, to evaluate the progress made. The outcomes of the discussions will be factored into the decision under the next steps”, he said.
