Panicking won't stop the spread of covid-19 — FG tells Nigerians

Confirmed cases of covid-19 in the country is still on the rise, but the Buhari administration said there's nothing unusual in the trend especially when hard hit states like Lagos and Kano are struggling to contain the spread of the contagion.


Speaking during the usual joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Wednesday in Abuja, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said the current mode of transmission of the virus, is clearly community based. According to him, fear or panicking won't end the pandemic, but a change in attitude.

“Knowledge so far gathered about COVID-19 needs to be converted into practice, because our safety, now more than ever, depends on all of us,” Ehanire said.



He urged Nigerians to adhere to public health advisories by wearing face masks, observing social distancing, practicing hand washing or sanitizing, standard respiratory hygiene, avoiding crowded places and all manner of non-essential travel, as well as reporting when people feel unwell, or someone close has symptoms of infection.

He said, “If not, we expose ourselves and our loved ones to risk and inadvertently increase the period this virus will be with us and make life worse for all of us. For example, large crowds reported at certain events and the movement and repatriation of persons from one State to the other, do contribute to the problem and do not indicate a good understanding of the urgency of the situation. Therefore, I again appeal for considerate and responsible social adjustment to the challenges Nigeria faces.


“While we are striving to increase our testing capacity, we have noted the complaints about turn-around time to get the results of tests conducted. We are doing what we can to resolve them,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's Director General, National Centers for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said he sees no reason why every State in Nigeria won't be affected by the virus.




“We have responded to Lassa smoothly and nobody shut down the country because it wasn’t necessary, the response was fairly efficient.

“Now, COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria, there is no reason why it won’t – it is a respiratory virus,” he said.