The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, has called on proprietors of schools in the country to send home children with respiratory symptoms consistent with coronavirus to reduce risk of transmission.
The national coordinator made the call at a briefing in Abuja Monday.
“School reopening: following some of the issues we had with Lagos State with outbreaks in some of the schools, we will like to re-emphasis adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions by schools and in particular screening and heightened awareness with regards to COVID-19.
“Any student presenting with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 particularly respiratory symptoms or fever should not be allowed to come to school. When teachers noticed a child with respiratory sysmtosm, the child should be sent back home, so that we can reduce the risk of transmission.
“Just as it is important for the need to communicate effectively with parents, staff, school health teams and creating protocols and providing regular updates on any changes to the school procedures as it relates to COVID.
“We encourage schools to continue to consider creative solutions to abide by our COVID guidelines including staggered learning to avoid overcrowding, Platooning, daily attendance and adjusting teachings etc.”
He said 60 percent of inbound travelers who paid for the compulsory PCR test but fail to turn up for the test seven days after arriving the country would be restricted from traveling for the next six months,” he said.
The national coordinator also expressed concern over the increasing number of international travels.
“I want to raise the issue of international travels. As we are aware we are approaching a very busy season, where we see a surge in passenger travel. The aim by the PTF over the next few weeks is to discourage travel, especially non-essential travel.
“We want to flattened that surge in passenger travel that we see every year around December. Why? Because of COVID-19. COVID-19 has changed the world, the way we interact, the way we deliver our services and it has to change the way we travel as well.
“We are actively discouraging non-essential travels. Essential travels is if you have to travel for study, work purposes, humanitarian services, travel to suppprt critical infrastructure, economic services and maintaining supply chain arrangements. Outside this, if you do not need to travel, please stay where you are over this period.
“At the moment, we are seeing a lot of travel restrictions going on in Europe and other places, if numbers continue to increase and we notice importation of infections, we will review our policy. I am not saying we will ban flights but I am also saying that we will do everything necessary to protect ourselves from a surge.
“So, if you don’t want to be stranded whether in Nigeria or outside the country, think again about traveling over this period. If it is not essential stay put. There will be other seasons, there will be other celebrations, especially with vaccines now being available across board it is very likely that travels will be sorted, so all the testing and monitoring will go away.
“Once we we have effective vaccines, I am sure the traveling community will soon be imposing rules on the need for vaccination, so once you are vaccinated it’s very unlikely that there will be restrictions. So all these inconveniences are for a short period of time.
“In terms of assurances we want to give the country, Nigeria has one of the most strict systems in terms of double testing. You have to do a PVR test not more than five days before boarding and you have to repeat the test at day seven. When it comes to COVID test, not more than five days before boarding for Nigeria and you have to repeat the test after seven days,” he said.
