* Extends COVID-19 task force mandate to March
* Our health system can’t withstand major outbreak – PTF
* Different tales in states

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked governors of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT to own the fight against COVID-19 in the wake of the second wave of the pandemic.

Buhari yesterday authorised the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 to engage with the governors to “assume full ownership of this stage of the response” to the second wave of the novel coronavirus plague.

President Buhari, who spoke at State House in Abuja while receiving the end-of-year report of the task force, said the governors should take full ownership by deploying legal structures and resources, including enforcement to manage the pandemic within their jurisdictions.

Daily Trust reports that Buhari had severally urged the governors to be decisive in the fight against the dreaded disease before it got out of hand. Some experts believed some of the governors had not been responsive and wondered what happened to the N1 billion given to each of them in addition to other interventions.

The President also yesterday extended the mandate of the PTF chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, which was constituted in March 2020 till the end of March 2021.

The president said: “Recent reports reaching me indicate that Nigeria is now facing a rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, which is similar to the second wave of infections occurring in other countries across the world.

“New epicentres have been identified and the nation cannot afford to lose the gains of the last nine months. I have critically evaluated the situation and remain convinced that urgent measures have to be taken to halt the spread and the attendant fatalities.

“Closely associated with the foregoing is the need to speedily and strategically access and administer the COVID vaccine in a safe, effective and timely manner. This is an important obligation that we owe Nigerians as we go into the year 2021 and it must be carried out through efficient machinery,” he said.

Get vaccines quickly

The president said the PTF should coordinate the strategy for access, delivery and administration of the vaccines using the existing health structures that had worked in the past.

He also directed the PTF and the Nigeria Immigration Service to ensure that all in-bound passengers who failed to show up for post-arrival COVID-19 test were sanctioned within the ambit of the law, for breaching the public health protocols.

The PTF chairman Boss Mustapha had on Monday at the joint national briefing of the task force said that of the 163,818 inbound international travellers captured on the Nigeria International Travel Portal for the control of possible importation of the virus, 20,216 (31 per cent) had not shown up for the post-arrival test.

Daily Trust also reliably gathered that while the federal government and some states governments favoured a planned nation-wide lockdown, others were not amenable to such move saying individual states should take appropriate measures, even with a unified national response and enforceable guidelines.

Mustapha said the new epicentres of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country including Lagos, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for over 70% of all confirmed cases, saying they remained a major challenge that must be addressed.

“The virus has not abated and still raging across the world. We have to overcome the pandemic fatigue, intensify risk communication, expand surveillance, testing and infection prevention and control,” he said.

‘Our health system can’t withstand major COVID-19 outbreak’

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, also said the country’s health system was fragile and might not withstand the effect of a major outbreak of COVID-19 or other infections.

He, therefore, stressed the need for a carefully thought through and action-oriented reform of the health sector that would improve health security and place the country in a better position to manage future health threats.

He said as 2020 drew to a close, the PTF needed to redefine its role in the COVID-19 response and identify how to streamline into a lean but effective response body that would focus on tackling COVID-19 by sustaining the gains made while maintaining a reasonable level of readiness in response to this second surge of the pandemic but also other outbreaks in the future.

According to him, “COVID-19 will be with us for a while. Although this is the new normal, it continues to be just as deadly…Next year will be all about the COVID-19 vaccine. This is a huge challenge for the country and will require your leadership and continued commitment.

Different measures in states

The Lagos State government said yesterday in a tweet that failure to wear a face mask in public could send anyone to prison.

“Failure to wear a face mask in public or breach of any COVID-19 regulations, you can be prosecuted under the Lagos State Infectious Diseases (Prevention) Regulations or Criminal Laws of Lagos State and upon conviction liable to imprisonment up to one year,” the tweet said.

In Kano, the coordinator of the state’s response team, Dr Hussain Tijjani, told Daily Trust via phone interview that the state was reviving all the structures that responded to the first outbreak of the COVID-19 in the state.

“We are also trying to see how all the health advisories are enforced now, especially the use of face masks, social distancing.” He said they had never relented in their fight against the scourge.

Osun State government said no decision yet on the second lockdown over COVID-19 pandemic. The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ismail Omipidan, said it would be hasty to make a definite comment on another lockdown at this moment.

“We are monitoring the situation and we shall act appropriately at the right time. When we get to the bridge, we would cross it,” he said.

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said they would rely on the data analysis of the COVID-19 since its inception to decide on the second phase of lockdown in the state. Makinde, who stated this while addressing correspondents yesterday, said the state would not rely on the information from other states to decide on the lockdown.

The Kaduna state government said the task force and other government agencies had commenced strict enforcement of the new COVID-19 regulations signed and authorised by Governor Nasir El-Rufai last week.

Daily Trust reports that while hotels remained opened in the state, the state task force had enforced the closure of bars, event centres, night clubs and gyms while government and private offices now enforce the use of facemasks and other COVID-19 protocols.

The state government had on Sunday directed all civil servants below grade level 14 to work from home as from yesterday, and also mandated all places of worship to enforce the use of facemasks among other measures.

The Niger State Government had directed the closure of public and private schools as well as tertiary institutions across the state from Friday, December 18.

https://dailytrust.com/second-wave-buhari-asks-govs-to-take-over-fight

The fight truly belongs to us the salt of the earth, and not even the government, because look closely they need directions,and as light of the world we will not allow evil prevail.


Don't forget the master is returning soon.

Fight ni

The clueless one has done all he can.

When will this incompetent clown ever take responsibility for anything?

There is no second wave just as there wasn't a first.

The age long flu season that occurs every winter is what they are attributing to Covid.

The governors that are rushing to shut down their states are the ones who have collected money already from Bill Gates.

Pls don't let governor Wike of rivers state see this news....he will lock us this morning..