“Economic reality makes people rebuff the order, but if we have a full-blown epidemic in Nigeria, we will know why it is important to obey the stay at home order.”
President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Francis Faduyile has warned that the country risked full-blown transmission of COVID-19 if people continued to flout the Federal Government lockdown order.
Many people are still seen on the streets of Lagos and Abuja, where the curve for coronavirus cases has been on the rise, defying the lockdown order of the government.
On March 29, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered lockdown in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun States to trace and treat people that had contracted coronavirus.
Also, governments of Osun, Rivers, Katsina and Kwara states on their own decision ordered the lockdown of their respective states.
But the lockdown order seems to have very low effects in states where it was placed.
The NMA president in reaction to the development said although economic reality in the country had made it difficult for people to stay at home, it was important to make the sacrifice to stay at home to avert a major health crisis.
Faduyile, however, added that it is important to obey the stay at home order to avert a full-blown transmission of the deadly coronavirus in the country.
He said, “We still have a heightening of the slope and it will take some time to flatten it. That will, however, depend on how much our people obey the government order to stay at home and the FG’s commitment and intervention to ensure the order on physical distancing is obeyed.
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“Economic reality makes people rebuff the order, but if we have a full-blown epidemic in Nigeria, we will know why it is important to obey the stay at home order.”
However, it was also gathered that the Federal Government is set to announce new strategies to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic based on the assumption that the country is now witnessing a community spread.
A source informed that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had been unable to trace the origin of some new cases, reports The Punch newspaper.
The newspaper quoted the source saying. “We are now working on the assumption that we are now witnessing a community spread. We have some patients in quarantine that can neither trace their point of origin nor tell us everyone they came in contact with.
“These are people who have no history of foreign travel. An example is a gateman who tested positive in Kaduna State last week shortly after returning from Lagos.
“We have submitted our recommendations to Mr. President and he is expected to extend the lockdown. We will be announcing new strategies which may include wearing of masks and more stringent contact restrictions.
“Some states may also witness lockdown. Our health system in Nigeria isn’t good but if some states which are less developed than Lagos have high infection rates then we are in trouble.”
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