The Federal government on Monday cautioned that cases of COVID-19 will definitely increase in the coming weeks owing to the ongoing #EndSARS protests across the country. The Chairman, Presidential Taskforce, PTF, on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, while issuing the warning in Abuja, said despite the appreciable success recorded so far in the fight against COVID-19, the ongoing protest may spark up a second wave of the virus.
“I can say it authoritatively that with the ongoing protest across the country, in the next two weeks the cases of COVID-19 would have increased. Each and everyone that attended the protest and did not put up any form of protection are likely going to spread the virus. When people contract the virus during the protest gathering, they will go back home and spread it.
“This is one of the reasons why we must be extremely careful when we congregate because when you gather together in such an atmosphere where people don’t wear face masks or maintain social distance you are creating a potential opportunity for carriers to spread the virus.
“So far we have done pretty well as a country but this protest is like a setback and we must avoid a situation where we will have a resurgence. Countries that thought they have overcome are dealing with second wave. We are extremely lucky as a nation and we should be careful of any situation that can warrant the second wave.”
The latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, indicated that Nigeria continues to record increase in confirmed cases as the toll has reached 61,558.
On the 19th of October 2020, 118 new confirmed cases were recorded in Nigeria, from 10 states in the country including Lagos (51), Rivers (26), Imo (12), Osun (8), Plateau (6), FCT (5), Kaduna (4), Ogun (3), Edo (2), Niger (1).
