The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control has said it may be tough to control a further spread of the Coronavirus Disease with the Easter celebration this weekend.
And this is coming amid a deluge of the relaxation of the lockdown in some states by the governors to give room for the celebration of Easter and congregational prayers by Muslims.
The position of the NCDC was made known by its Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Friday in Abuja
He said Nigerians would need to stay physically apart to flatten the COVID-19 curve.
Ihekweazu said: “We are socially intense people.
“We live on social interaction.
“We are known across the world for our music, our dance, our drama.
“We hold our religious gatherings very dear to our hearts and there is no weekend more important for Christianity than this weekend.
“There is no weekend that Christians are called upon to come together than this weekend.
“So, I really call on all of us: Nigerian Christians, Muslims, and whatever the religion that you have, we need to pay a short term price for a long term goal and physical distancing is probably the most important tool.”
Ihekweazu said he adopted the term physical distancing instead of social distancing because a lot of people still find it difficult to understand how to keep social distance with the people in their environment.
He said it simply meant avoiding physical contacts.
He said: “I would actually like to introduce a new term that probably better defines what we are trying to do.
“We move from the term social distancing to physical distancing because what we are suggesting is not for you to be socially apart from each other.
“We are suggesting that we stay physically apart, but use technology and any other means available to you to actually increase your social relationships because it is by increasing it through other means that we can maintain our mental well-being, our relationships, as well achieve our goals of keeping the virus apart from us.”
Ihekweazu said wearing of masks alone could not prevent the spread of COVID-19, adding that it should be adopted in addition to other recommendations.
He said: “Even when we make a decision on face masks, that is not going to solve the problem.
“It will just be an addition to social distancing measures.”
The NCDC boss said that religious and traditional leaders had a role to play in giving accurate information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that as Nigerians looked forward to Easter celebration, there was need for all to take responsibility in the prevention and control of the pandemic.
“Today is Good Friday, it emphasises the importance of sacrifice for a longer-term goal.”
Ihekweazu disclosed that the centre had identified 91 per cent of the contacts of confirmed cases of COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier, Dr. Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator, PTF, noted that some state governments had relaxed the measures put in place to curtail the spread of the disease.
Aliyu said: “We have noted that some states have started lifting ban or relaxing containment protocols.
“This is really not the right time to do so, partly because we still have an ongoing pandemic, which is global.
“It is also not the right time because we can end up having real recrudescence of infections.”
The PTF coordinator said authorities of various states should know that the pandemic was all over and not just about Lagos and Ogun States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
Aliyu added: “At this point, I am appealing to community leaders, religious, traditional leaders and state authorities to continue to support and encourage the public to maintain protective measures that are important in getting on top of the infection.
“There is also a very strong need for state governments to align with the Federal Government in the efforts to deal with the pandemic.
