Mr Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, has alleged that that the reopening of schools and religious centers in Nigeria contributed to the worsening of the pandemic situation in the country.
Mustapha, who made this known at its briefing on Monday, said that reopening of airports and increased local and international travels also contributed to the rise in coronavirus cases from late November 2020.
“It is however very instructive to stress that factors that have contributed to rise in numbers from late November 2020 included increased local and international travels, business and religious activities, reopening of schools without strict compliance with COVID-19 safety measures,” Mustapha said.
The infection rate of coronavirus cases has increased in Nigeria since early December, which effectively pushed the country into the second wave of the pandemic.
The Federal Government recently warned that a significant increase in COVID-19 infections in Nigeria appears imminent this January due to the violation of safety protocols during the Christmas period.
The country, on Monday, crossed the 100,000 milestone in infections.
Also at the briefing in Abuja on Monday, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of State for Health, said the rising cases of infections impose an enormous burden on Nigeria’s health facilities.
“With the increased number of confirmed cases, the number of active cases has increased. As of today, we have 18,699 active cases on treatment both in facility and in the community using the treatment protocols.
“Many of the active cases may require care in one of the treatment or isolation centres thus imposing enormous burden on our facilities,” he said.
Mamora also said results from the tests conducted on prospective NYSC members have confirmed that no part of the country is free of COVID-19 disease.
“We safely and comfortably draw this conclusion because corps members are mobilised from all the states of the country for each of the orientation camps,” he said.
