Second wave: Don’t Close Down Your COVID-19 Treatment Centres, PTF begs Governors

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has appealed to authorities in various states not to close down the facilities built to treat persons infected with COVID-19.

PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made the plea on Thursday while briefing reporters in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Instead, he wants them to keep the centres running efficiently and smoothly as the country begins to witness the second wave of the virus.

Mustapha explained that it was necessary for authorities to intensify efforts to support the public sector laboratories with critical reagents.

According to him, the PTF expects the leadership of all federal tertiary health institutions to raise their level of testing and turnaround for results.

The SGF noted that a series of advisories were issued by the PTF to state governments on ways to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country, in line with the authorisation of the President.

He revealed that as a follow-up, the PTF met with the select team of governors on the platform of the National Economic Council (NEC) and by extension, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

The PTF chairman stated that the task force was aware of the global conversation on the new strain of COVID-19 discovered in the United Kingdom.

He said the government’s health experts were working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to study the variant strain and would make a statement at the appropriate time.

Mustapha gave an assurance that the PTF would increase measures pertaining to high burden countries to scale down the possibilities of importation of the disease.

He asked Nigerians to expect an improvement very soon on the turnaround time for receiving COVID-19 test results.