COVID-19:Work closely with PTF, Buhari urges govs

.As NCDC plans to provide guidance for businesses to re-open safely

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, enjoined governors to work closely with the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 to engender better harmony in the daunting task of checking the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Femi Adesina, the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja, said Buhari made the call during an online meeting with the Governors’ Forum.

The president disclosed that the PTF had briefed him on the next steps in the national response to the pandemic, “and I have directed that they work very closely with the governors”.

He said the pandemic was “beyond technology, power, and resources,” noting that countries that had all those things, were recording the highest casualties around the world.

“We have to be very careful. We need to continue to educate and persuade the people to accept the reality of the situation, and do all that is necessary to stay safe,” the president said.

The presidential aide revealed that the meeting also discussed economic and security issues, among others, and that the governors lauded the president on the “leadership and direction” he had given the country in combating COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it will provide guidance for businesses to take responsibility and re-open safely, as it continues to work to stop the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Director-General (DG), of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF), media briefing on Monday, in Abuja.

Iheakweazu said President Muhammadu Buhari, had expressed concerns over re-opening of the economy, when the PTF briefed him on the public health response to COVID-19 in the country.

He said that a consensus was reached that Nigerians might have to live with the pandemic up to months in the forseeable future.

“But how do we move from the narrative of a lockdown to a narrative of a safe re-opening so that people can go back to their livelihoods, why still staying safe from this virus?

“How do we do that in the farms, markets, schools, in transports, our offices and in aviation? Really this has to be our focus in the coming weeks, to provide guidance for businesses to take responsibility and re-open safely,” he said.

Ihekweazu said that there were no easy answers, neither could all the answers come from NCDC alone, but from all Nigerians to also help in giving directions to the country.

“But I was happy to hear the efforts being made by the aviation industry, the detail thinking that has started to happen in order to eventually re-start.

“Similar conversations are going on in the education sector, and I have the privilege to some of those.

“It will be much easier for Mr President, that when we visit him in the next two weeks with a narrative that we are ready to re-open safely, it will make his decisions easier,” he said.

Ihekweazu, however, said that the biggest challenge was how Nigerians could ensure that small businesses opened safely.

“We must take every step in a deliberate and calculative manner, due to what we have on ground with our healthcare, in order to give our people succour.

“Industries and enterprises will be given guidelines of what they need to put in place when issuing out phase two strategy of the lockdown ease,” he stated.

In her remarks, Dr Fiona Braka, the Officer in Charge, World Health Organisation (WHO), Country Office, explained Multi-system inflammatory disorder in Children.

Braka said that recent information from Europe had described the ailment as acute illness found in children and adolescents that often sent them into shock.

She, however, said that experts were still looking into the cause and the risk factors.

The country Rep also disclosed that new guidelines, intended for healthcare professionals, were now available on the WHO website.

“Most cases will recover after a period of two weeks,” she explained.