The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has asked state governments to pay more attention to the welfare of people at the various treatment centres and for security agencies to provide adequate security for the facilities to prevent the escape of patients.
Chairman of the Task Force, Boss Mustapha, said this during Thursday’s national briefing on the state of COVID-19 in the country where he announced that the Nigerian institute of architects have offered to give free consultancy services such as design, remodelling and supervision for COVID-19 related infrastructure such as treatment centres, test laboratories, and upgrading of health facilities across the country.
The poor state of facilities and the alleged ill-treatment of COVID-19 patients at some isolation facilities across the country, have led to calls by Nigerians including health professionals on the need for the government to scale up its response in curtailing the spread of the virus.
This, Mustapha, during Thursday’s briefing, said is being addressed with more focus on the need for state governments to pay attention to the day-to-day operations of the treatment centres in their states.
Minister of Health, Osagie Enahire, spoke on the controversial issues surrounding the index case from Benue State who alleged that she has been in isolation for over 40 days without knowing her true status and urged Nigerians who just returned from the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with the authorities during their 14-day isolation period.
The NCDC Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, clarified the issue of why people who have tested positive or negative for COVID-19 are not being presented with a copy of their results and also called on Nigerians to take seriously health guidelines issued to ease the lockdown.
The PTF National Coordinator, Dr. Sani Aliyu, said Nigerians must desist from violating the guidelines of the first phase of the gradual easing of the lockdown, while the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, spoke on the arrival of Nigerian returnees from the United Kingdom.
