Covid-19: PTF Accuses Religious Organizations of Sabotage

Category: Nigeria News

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 Control on Thursday accused some religious organizations of flouting national response guidelines by holding large crowd events.

It also said that a second wave of the pandemic may have begun, considering the rising infections.

PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF)  Boss Mustapha, who spoke during a briefing, said the pandemic’s impact has resulted in mental health issues, drug use and gender-based violence.

He said: “We have observed, rather sadly, that Nigerians, particularly some faith-based organisations, have continued to hold events of large gatherings capable of spreading the virus.

“The PTF urges all sub-national entities that signed the protocols with these organisations and have primary responsibility for enforcing the protocols to step up their roles of enforcement.”

On how to address the mental health issues, Mustapha said: “The solution is to exercise enormous self-restraint and vigilance.

“The PTF urges that citizens should take advantage of the mental health programmes nearest to them. In Abuja, for example, the Federal Medical Centre in Jabi is the facility to visit.”

According to him, the country’s COVID-19 infections witnessed significant increase after a period of low numbers.

“The analysis shows that the 1,607 new confirmed cases are higher than the numbers recorded in the week of Nov. 29 – December 5, when a total of 1,102 cases were recorded,” he said.