The chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Mr. Boss Mustapha, has said that 689 local government areas out of the 774 LGAs in the country have reported cases of the coronavirus infection.
Mustapha who revealed this at the daily briefing of the PTF held yesterday in Abuja said no tests had been conducted in the remaining 85 councils spread across 20 states
The PTF chairman warned that Nigeria was yet to reach the peak of the pandemic.
“Nigeria is yet to reach the peak of the pandemic. Therefore, the low test/ case confirmation numbers coming out daily should not be misinterpreted to mean that we have overcome. We have over time ramped up testing but more needs to be done to raise the quantum of test per million,’’ he added.
He further said in the new phase of the National Response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which ends on September 5, the federal government will be particularly focusing on to ensure general level of compliance are the education and transportation sectors.
“The PTF and the federal ministry of aviation are working rapidly towards reopening of the international flights,’’ he said.
Mustapha noted that the global number of confirmed cases surpassed 20 million and 750,000 deaths, adding that the statistics remained serious warning signals accompanied with pains and anguish to families and friends that have lost loved ones.
He noted that Africa’s confirmed cases had surpassed the one million mark, fearing that the true number could be higher because “we suspect strongly that for every reported case, up to seven might have been missed.”
Also speaking, the minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said Nigeria had lost 945 persons to the COVID-19 infection.
“The figures show that Nigeria is also sadly approaching the symbolic 1,000 number of fatalities, a grim reality that should be a wake-up call for us.
“Many more Nigerians today personally knew a person who succumbed to COVID-19, and so I ask that we remind ourselves today that COVID-19 is still with us and will be for a long time.
“Until there is a vaccine, the only options we have to protect ourselves, are still the non-pharmaceutical measures that are proved to be cheap and effective, such as the appropriate use of face masks, physical distancing and avoiding crowds. If we do not adhere, there could be regrets,” he said.
