The Federal Government on Tuesday revealed that 812 frontline health workers in Nigeria have been infected with the ravaging coronavirus.
Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), who said this at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, added that the country recorded third highest number of confirmed cases in Africa.
Ihekweazu said 29 of the healthcare workers are staff of the NCDC and currently receiving treatment.
“These are not just numbers, they are people and they matter,” he said.
The DG described the rise in Nigeria’s cases to over 10,000 as a significant event, adding that it’s spot on countries with highest cases in Africa is an added responsibility for government to strengthen its response.
Ihekweazu said 75 percent of the over 10,000 cases recorded so far do not know the source of their illness. This, according to him, is because community transmission is ongoing and therefore difficult to link one’s exposure to one particular person or one event.
“This is normal of a respiratory virus of which 80 percent of people are asymptomatic,” he said.
Ihekweazu added that 2 percent of the cases have a travel history, while 23 percent are contacts of existing patients.
The DG further said 60 percent of cases are in 20 LGAs across the country of which most are in Lagos. He said a lot of effort will be focused the LGAs to prevent spread to others.
Ihekweazu said the NCDC has increased its testing capacity, informing that it has tested over 65,000 samples and increased laboratory network to 30 following the activation of laboratories in Bauchi and Abuja.
The DG also said 37 rapid response teams have been deployed with over 450 people supporting the response.
He added that over 40,000 pieces of complete Personnel Protective Equipment (PPEs) have been distributed and a new consignment will be distributed this weekend to every state and Federal Medical Centres (FMC) in the country.
Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the Presidential Task Force, while giving detailed insight on the opening of worship centres, advised that despite reopening, it was still better to worship at home.
“There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic is still around and it is safer for you to stay at home. There is no doubt that it is safer for you to worship at home,” he said. “PTF is providing the safety advisory in the event that you have to go for worship outside of your home for safety.”
The guidelines are the baselines for the states to work on and states are free to strengthen the guidelines and strengthen the baselines so that citizens are protected in their respective places of worship, Aliyu said.
The PTF said the places of worship are particularly recognised to have a major potential for exploding COVID-19 infection among worshippers.
“This has been clearly demonstrated in several COVID pandemic outbreaks globally with regard to religious gatherings,” he said.
PTF warned that places of worships that are unable to comply with these guidelines should not be allowed to operate by state governments.
“All places of worships must sign up to full compliance to all aspects of non-pharmaceuticals intervention required to protect the public from COVID-19,” Aliyu said. “They are to ensure the supply of running water and soap and alcohol sanitisers at the entry and exit points of the church and in all high contact locations including bathrooms.”
He said worshippers are to sanitise their hands before entry and also have temperature checks before entry. Supervision and enforcement of this would be led by the church leaderships of various church facilities, he said.
“Use of face masks is mandatory. We strongly discourage all close contacts including shaking of hands, sharing of prayer mats, microphones, among others. The capacity of the church facilities should be limited to allow for physical distancing of at least two metres between persons. People from the same households should be encouraged to stay together,” he said.
“Local authorities should also be advised on areas of hotspots that requires greater restrictions. Volunteers should be limited to the exact number needed and none of the volunteers should have an underlining medical conditions or be above the age of 55,” he further said.
Aliyu said the leadership of the places of worship were entrusted with responsibility for the enforcement and supported by local authorities in the states.
“We strongly recommend limiting congregations contact times in the places of worships and mosques. Churches are allowed to conduct services for a maximum of an hour in between services to allow time for disinfection,” he said.
Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, decried the varying levels of readiness in states, adding that there was need for state governments to re-strategise to keep the people safe.
