The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has called on Nigerians to be take precautions while travelling or planning to receive travellers from the United States of America, United Kingdom, India, Russia and France.
The calls were made at the PTF’s media briefing in Abuja on Monday.
The National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, while answering a question on the protests, said, “On the impact of what has been going on and incidence of (having) new COVID-19 infections in the country, we are monitoring the situation in terms of testing closely.
“We will continue to urge all – the young, the old, and the vulnerable – to please be careful.
“Any mass gathering of any sort is an event amplifying the situation for COVID-19. And COVID-19 is still very much around with us, we don’t want to get infected and carry the infection to our loved ones, especially those at home that might be vulnerable.”
The task force’s chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, also corroborated Aliyu’s position.
READ ALSO: NLC rejects planned concession of airports, writes Buhari
“We urge everyone who has been exposed unduly to large gathering to get tested and/or report any signs of the symptoms of COVID-19,” he said.
Mustapha also noted that the global cases of COVID-19 rose by a record 400,000 cases on October 16 with 43 per cent of all the cases occurring in Europe, especially in the UK and France.
“The top five countries in new cases reported in the last 24 hours are India (55,511); USA (44,941); France (29,837); UK (16,982) and Russia (15,099).
“It is important to take precaution when planning to travel or receive travellers from these countries,” he said.
He however said Nigeria was on the path to winning the war against the virus.
Mustapha said, “The PTF continues to monitor developments in-country and around the world so as to improve on its activities and its decisions.”
The PTF coordinator also said the Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt international airports would only be reopened if laboratories were available to test passengers arriving in the country.
