Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Again, the Federal Government has expressed worry over the rising cases of the virus in Kano State.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said at the daily briefing yesterday, he said the PTF is working in close contact with the state government to arrest the situation.
Out of the 782 confirmed cases, Kano has 73 and is third on the table after Lagos and the FCT.
“The PTF notes that the number of cases has risen generally. This is attributable to expansion of our testing capacity and activities as well as evidence that community spread is taking place,” he said.
He noted that considering the dynamic nature of the response plan, the strategy for testing has been modified and door-to-door testing has begun in some communities in Lagos and Abuja.
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. Sani Aliyu, has described as fake a statement linking him with a proposed complete lockdown of the country.
“I must reiterate that the task force has not released any official statement on a complete lockdown, I refer to the SGF’s speech yesterday (Tuesday) on submitting formal findings to Mr President, this is yet to happen. I request that the public and the media take caution in circulating or publishing unverified news.
He commended patients of COVID-19 sharing the experiences on their own volition even as he warned against the stigmatisation of persons that have tested positive for the virus.
“When we stigmatise persons, when we discriminate against them, when we scold people, what happens is that they go into hiding at a time when they need help and support and it makes our job more difficult.
“We can only flatten the curve if people come out willingly to report symptoms based on case specification, like fever, dry cough and shortness of breath. We need to encourage more people to come out with symptoms so that we can test them and isolate them appropriately.”