Sani Aliyu, the national coordinator of the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Thursday, June 18, 2020 said the risk of contracting Coronavirus is higher than before in Nigeria.
The number of daily positive tests is still on the rise in Nigeria with Thursday recording the highest ever at 745 new cases.
Aliyu blamed the high rate of transmission on the relaxation of the lockdown order in different states across the country.
He said, “the PTF continues to be very concerned about the issue of compliance. As you are aware, we are here to push for the containment of COVID-19 in the country through data-driven medical advisories.
“The fact that we are receiving many reports on the flouting of the guidelines, the hint by individuals, groups and organisations is simply unacceptable.
“As I said in the past, COVID-19 is far from over globally, neither is it over in Nigeria.
“There’s no doubt that a lot of community transmission is happening and it continues to increase across the states. Now more than ever before, if you go out, you’re more likely to get COVID-19 than before.
“Your risk of acquiring COVID-19 because of the numbers we have now is more than three, four weeks or five weeks ago when we had a lockdown, so there really isn’t any room or relaxation at this point.”
“It wasn’t because COVID-19 has gone and it wasn’t because we should be more relaxed in terms of our prevention measures.
He disclosed that the federal government is working with security agencies to enforce compulsory adherence to the COVID-19 guidelines, as the PTF “will not sit back and allow public safety to be endangered by a few”.
