File photo of the PTF chairman, Boss Mustapha, briefing reporters in Abuja
Nigerians may have to brace for tougher measures to be adopted by the Federal Government in the coming days in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.
Speaking during a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the Secretary to the Federal Government, Boss Mustapha, announced that effective from January the 1st, 2021, the name of passengers who miss their post-arrival PCR Test would be published in the national dailies.
Mustapha said the passports of the first 100 passengers that fail to take their test will be published in the national dailies and be suspended till June 2021, as a deterrent.
“With effect from 1st January 2021 the passports of the first 100. passengers that failed to take their day seven post-arrival PCR test will be published in the national dailies,” he said.
“The passports, as deterrence, will also be suspended till June 2021. At the beginning of my remarks, I underscored the issue of oxygen availability as critical to the success of case management.
“There is an on-going review of the chain for the supply of medical oxygen for our medical facilities across the nation.
“While we work on immediate measures, we wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Raj Gupta and Abuja Steel Mills for bridging the gap in oxygen requirements in Abuja with at least 100 cylinders of medical oxygen daily for the next three months, as part of the contributions of CACOVID.
“We are also grateful to the Nigeria Airforce for logistics support to the health sector in the last nine months.”
Mustapha, who is also the PTF Chairman, asked the sub-nationals to reopen all laboratories and begin scaling up testing, while condemning delays in results and the inability of laboratories to function optimally, in spite of available funds.
On his part, the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said January 2021 would be a tough month.
Ihekweazu lamented that Nigerians have refused to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols thereby causing the national response to pass through a challenging phase.
The NCDC boss explained that week 52 has recorded the highest number of infections since the outbreak of the virus in the country in February.
He also appealed to Nigerians not to embrace all information on social media regarding the virus, particularly the presence of the variant within the country,
