PTF to submit assessment, recommendations to Buhari

…Urges Nigerians to await next steps

…Pleads with hospitals to stop rejecting patients

The Presidential Task Force on the novel Coronavirus disease otherwise referred to as COVID-19 has said that it would be submitting a Report containing assessment and recommendations to President Mohammadu Buhari by the end of this week.

Speaking during the PTF-COVID-19 daily briefing on Thursday in Abuja, the Secretary to Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, therefore urged Nigerians to await the next steps.

Mustapha while urging Nigerians to remain careful and vigilant described as unfortunate that non-compliance has been largely fueled by skepticism and ignorance about the disease.

While noting that stigmatisation has further impacted on the willingness of people to come out to seek help and even tell their stories, the SGF clarified that the nature of the pandemic demands the need to detect and treat in order to address it.

He said: ‘’Let me emphasise, therefore, that COVID-19 is not a condition to be ashamed of as it has no respect for status, nationality, race, creed, tribe, etc. Every person infected must be treated to prevent spread and avoidable fatalities.

‘’As we deepen the community engagement and risk communication phase of our national response, the PTF still reiterates the need for ownership, taking responsibility and expanding the scope of sensitisation, all of which combine to make our ability to maximally detect, trace, isolate and treat nationwide successful.

‘’You would have noticed that the number of confirmed cases and fatalities released in the last few days have been on the high side. While we attribute this to increased testing, it also goes to confirm the extent of the spread within our communities, especially the twenty-one (21) high burden LGAs identified as accounting for over 60% of infections nationwide.

‘’Closely related to the high number of confirmed cases and fatalities at home are lessons drawn from other jurisdictions. From Europe to China to the United States of America, the rising numbers and reported resurgence in some cases should also be of concern to us.

‘’Of particular concern, however, is the case of Brazil which has exceeded the one million mark of confirmed cases. We had informed you that Brazil shares several cultural, demographic and climatic affinities with us. If any lesson is to be learnt, Brazil should be a subject of interest that will make us change our behaviour.

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‘’In furtherance of the collaboration with sub-national entities, the PTF joined the Nigerian Governors Forum in a virtual meeting yesterday, to evaluate the progress made. The outcomes of the discussions will be factored into the decision under the next steps’’.

He revealed that the country was beginning to record more deaths from non-attendance to other diseases than COVID-19.

‘’The PTF has continued to receive Reports about hospitals rejecting patients thus resulting in needless death of patients suffering from other ailments.

“This has resulted in several unfortunate and avoidable fatalities and statistics have shown that there is a drastic drop in the percentage of attention being paid to other ailments not related to COVID-19.

“This situation is made worse by the fact that the federal tertiary institutions have been mentioned among those rejecting patients for fear of COVID-19.”

‘’We continue to plead with these hospitals not to reject patients but to follow the protocols for managing COVID-19 while receiving them and most importantly, to seek necessary accreditation from the Ministry of Health and NCDC to manage COVID-19 cases’’, Mustapha added.