The federal government said Monday that the declining cases of infections suggests that the country is gradually winning the war against COVID-19.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Control of COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha, said this at a briefing in Abuja.
“Nigeria continues to progressively witness declining confirmed cases of COVID-19 with a record low number of 79 cases on Sunday, September 13, 2020. While this suggests that we are winning this war, the reality is that we need to improve on our commitment to eliminate the virus completely by abiding with the protocols so that we can return to a semblance of what was our normal life.
“In a very modest way, therefore, we could say that our National Response, under the guidance of Mr. President, is achieving impressive results and this has been commended by our development partners. The PTF wishes to use this opportunity to also thank our development partners as their support has contributed in no small measures to the successes so far recorded and we count on their continued support as we progress in tackling this pandemic.
“One critical element we must not loose sight of is the fact that our cautious approach has tremendously helped in our containment efforts. Therefore, we should avoid complacency at all cost. Our focus should go beyond flattening the curve and ridding our land of this virus just as we did with the polio virus,” he said.
He said a reliable vaccine for the treatment of coronavirus would not be available until the first quarter of 2021, stressing that once it is ready, Nigeria would not be left out in accessing the drugs.
“That the world still awaits is the arrival of an effective vaccine. The PTF updated you last week about the progress made with candidate vaccines and the phases of the trials. We also assured you that Nigeria will not be left out when eventually access is needed for a safe and effective vaccine certified by global public health authorities.
“Given this timeline, however, we do not expect vaccines to be available for countries till the second half of 2021. What this means is that we need to, more than ever before, adhere to the prescribed NPIs and diligently avoid contracting the virus,” he said.
