Lai Mohammed By Omeiza Ajayi April 21, 2020 | EASTERN PILOT ABUJA — The Federal Government has warned Nigerians against resort t...
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| Lai Mohammed |
By Omeiza Ajayi
April 21, 2020 | EASTERN PILOT
ABUJA — The Federal Government has warned Nigerians against resort to the use of a ‘fake vaccine’ produced in Kano for the treatment of the Novel Coronavirus.
Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed gave the warning Tuesday in Abuja during the daily briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19.
He said; “In the absence of vaccine or drugs, Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention NPI remains the most effective way to contain the spread of the disease and protect Nigerians. By the way, you must have heard of the vaccine being hawked in Kano which is called ‘Covid-19 Vaccine’. It is yellow in colour. It is not certified by anybody. Please, do not patronize the hawkers.
“In the meantime, the National Broadcasting Commission NBC has taken steps to prevent misinformation via the broadcast stations by warning them to adhere strictly to the professional ethics of balance and fairness in reporting COVID-19.
“In particular, the Commission has warned the stations against bringing on their programmes ‘panellists’ with agenda to make reckless statements and insinuations”.
Minister of State for Health, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora on his part disclosed that the Federal government has deployed teams in all states currently afflicted by the pandemic.
He said; “the national rapid response team (RRTs) supporting the COVID-19 response in each affected state and 23 RRTs have been deployed.
“With community transmission, we are doing active case search in communities. This strategy requires more testing kits and diagnostics. Currently, we are assessing additional laboratories for accreditation and will announce more laboratories soon”.
Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abubakar also disclosed of efforts by his ministry to decontaminate several airports in the country, saying a lot of public places in Abuja have been decontaminated in conjunction with the Federal Fire Service.
Meanwhile, eleven people who initially tested positive for Covid-19 in the Federal Capital Territory FCT have been discharged, the FCT Administration has announced. They were discharged on Monday night having satisfied all the necessary protocols.
However, the Administration announced that it lost one patient on a day that it also recorded one new Covid-19 case.
“We have one new case in the FCT and we are happy to announce that 11 people have been discharged. Unfortunately we regret that one patient has died. May God be with the family of the deceased and protect all our front line workers”, the Administration said in a terse message from its Covid-19 Media Team.
So far, 35 people have been discharged from the various isolation and treatment centres in the territory while three fatalities have been recorded. As of 11:10pm on Monday, the total number of confirmed cases in the territory stood at 89 while active cases stood at 51.
The Federal Capital Territory, FCT Police Command has threatened to seal all motor parks in the territory, should the operators continue to violate the lockdown order.
FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma gave the warning while addressing operators of motor parks at the command. He specifically regretted the flouting of the lockdown order by motorists mostly in Utako and Jabi motor parks.
He said; “Motor Park owners and operators know that there is a lockdown in Abuja, but it has been observed that it is only in the day time that the order is observed. The park owners have created emergency parks and recieve people from long journey around 2am and 3am.
“Policemen and officers have been deployed in your parks yet you people have formed new parks in other locations. If this is not checked, people from other locations will bring the disease into the FCT, and if we have the disease here, we will take it to other locations. But our concern is to ensure that the situation is well prevented in the Federal Capital Territory”, he said.
Chairman of the Taskforce and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha expressed delight at the level of compliance with the lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states.
He said; “While the PTF continues to assess the impact of the lockdown preparatory to the submission of a Report to Mr. President, we have observed general compliance with the restrictions. However, much more work shall be required in the creation of awareness among the people and securing the buy-in of stakeholders. I find it necessary to remind us all that this COVID-19 pandemic is not a joke and it is a global pandemic. I therefore renew the appeal of the PTF to all Nigerians to view it as such and comply with all advisories and directives in the interest of humanity”.
Mustapha added that with the level of creativity and inventions by Nigerians, the country would no longer be the same at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika who also spoke at the Taskforce briefing, assured Nigerians of the commitment of the Federal Government to its own regulations, adding that any flight seen on Nigeria’s airspace is on essential duties.
He said; “Any flight that we will approve will be an essential flight and 98 percent of them will be connected to Covid-19. A few of them might be due to medical evacuations (also subject to recommendations from a Teaching Hospital) and repatriation of foreign Nationals (also subject to recommendations from the Foreign Affairs Ministry).
“On VIP flights, whoever is approved to fly privately, governor or no governor is on an essential trip and 98 percent is related to COVID-19. There are no exceptions for governors. I have denied several of such flights including two governors from the South-South, two from the Southeast and one from the North-central. And three out of them are even APC Governors. Once you see a flight approved, it has to be related to COVID-19 or our own wellbeings like food and medical essentials”, he explained.
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