COVID-19 Figures Are Low Because We Are In Sallah Mood, Says Mustapha |The Source

By Uche Mbah

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has said that the low infection rate being recorded recently is because the country is in the Sallah mood, and that workers went for Sallah holidays and, therefore, the number tested nationwide is only about 2000. He also said the report on COVID 19 has been submitted to President Buhari and that the final phase of the lockdown may be lifted today (Thursday).

The second phase of the lockdown is ending Thursday.

Speaking to Journalists Wednesday after submitting  the report, Mustapha said that fatigue on the part of COVID 19 workers may have contributed to the low figures.

Nigeria has recorded 304 cases of COVID 19 Tuesday, the lowest figures in two weeks.

“As for the content of the report, it will be premature for me to talk about it because we submitted a report, we have submitted recommendations and so we have to leave for Mr. President to take a decision”, Mustapha said.

“By the time I receive his approvals, non-approvals on the recommendations we have made, we will be able to speak to the Nigerian people tomorrow (Thursday),” he explained.

“If you noticed, as we celebrated those discharges, there has also been a decrease in the testing.

“In the last couple of days, we tested just barely 2,000 across the nation, but we have a testing capacity of much more thousands than 2,000.

“Another reason is that everybody is still in a Sallah mood, even the essential workers. Remember when I talked of fatigue, this is part of it.

“But I know that in the next couple of days, the testing will be rampant because people would have come out of the Sallah celebrations and come back to work.

“The sub nationals and local governments will begin to go into the communities to search because this is the point at which you have to go into the local communities and begin to search.

“If you don’t do that, so much is happening as a result of the community transmission that has been cascaded into the local communities that if you wait for it to present itself, it will present itself in a very explosive manner and we can get into a panic mode.

“We don’t want to have that. That is why are encouraging the state governments to go into the local communities to ensure that they search for those infected with this virus, test them, if they are positive, isolate them and provide care for them.”