The Federal Government has warned that eventually if the second wave of coronavirus strikes in Nigeria, it will jeopardize the economy and cause mass deaths to the public. The statement was made by the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu while giving an update on the daily briefing in Abuja. According to him, he advised businesses that are planning to re-open to abide by the precautions set out for the COVID-19 protocol at public places.
He said, though eventually, businesses have to re-open for people to survive, that has to be handled with caution as we can see from other climes that some countries are going back to lockdown because of the second wave of the coronavirus.
Aliyu said Nigeria cannot afford to allow that happen because it will set the economy backward and claim many lives. Therefore, people have to re-open safely to avoid another risk of shutting down or risking more lives.
He promised that after reopening, his committee would continue to update Nigerians with the date-driven and scientific advisories that could protect the populace from contacting the deadly virus, saying that though from their analysis many Nigerians have continued to live in denial from the existence of the disease and which is dangerous to our collective intelligence.
He revealed that as our airspace is opening up for businesses, it will be easy to be fooled into complacency or forgetfulness which ordinarily we shouldn’t.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, disclosed that the government is working hard to reduce the fatalities from the COVID-19 deaths in Nigeria as now is still less than one percent.
The Minister added that the government is still working on innovative interventions with the aim of reducing death chances especially the octogenarians and those with co-morbidities.
In his statement, “Although it is far too early to draw conclusions, it is noteworthy that testing increased by over 40,000 in one month, and the number of positive cases dropped by more than 2,000. But we must not rest on our oars: it is just suggestive of the fact that our strategy is not failing, and we must continue to sustain efforts,”
