The immediate task before the Federal Government is to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in communities around the country, Boss Mustapha, chairman, Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 and secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), said in Lagos on Tuesday.
Mustapha was in Lagos alongside other members of the task force to inspect facilities in the state.
Community transmission of coronavirus disease appears to be on the rise, with Akin Abayomi, Lagos State commissioner for health, saying on Monday that it accounted for 45 percent of new infections in Lagos currently.
“The basic strategy of the national response is containment, to try as much as possible to reduce the spread by tracking those that have already been infected so that we minimise the case of community transmission,” Mustapha said.
After visiting facilities such as the 100-bed Onikan isolation centre, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and the Gbagada General Hospital, the task force rated Lagos’ level of preparedness against the virus very high, describing some of the facilities already in place in the state as world-class.
“We’ve taken a tour of this facility (Onikan) which is very important place in anticipation that we’ll have to receive more patients here. So far, I think Lagos State is doing a great job. From what I’ve seen here, they’re putting up a first-class and world-class facility that will help us in the management of those that are affected,” Mustapha told journalists after inspecting the Onikan centre.
He noted that plans and processes so far put in place by both the federal and state governments were such that would help to achieve the objective of curtailing the Covid-19 spread.
“I listened to the Lagos State commissioner for health where he said there are indications that the lockdown and the processes that have been put in place are achieving the desired objective,” said Mustapha.
“And I would ask you, the media people, to continue to broadcast out there that we need to maintain social distance, we need to maintain personal hygiene and we need to report anybody within the community that has shown symptoms of the infection, so that as quickly as possible, the help that is desired can be extended to those persons,” he said.
Mustapha also said only President Muhammadu Buhari could decide whether or not the current 14-day lockdown on Lagos, Ogun and Abuja would be extended.
Buhari had on Sunday, March 29, pronounced a 14-day lockdown on Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State with effect from 11pm on Monday, March 30 – as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus. The lockdown is now in its second week.
Mustapha said part of the reason the committee visited Lagos, which is the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, was to assess to what extent the objective of the lockdown has been achieved.
He noted that the committee would be making recommendations to the president based on its observations in relation to the objective of the lockdown.
“At the end of our visit, we will make our recommendations and only Mr President alone will decide whether to extend the lockdown,” he said.
Joshua Bassey
