Many Nigerians seeking to travel abroad present fake covid-19 test results –PTF

The Chairman, Presidential Task Force PTF on COVID-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Mr Boss Mustapha, has disclosed that many Nigerians seeking to travel abroad have now resorted to presenting fake covid-19 test results.

Mustapha who lamented the development on Thursday while speaking at a briefing of the Task Force, in Abuja said that the more people are infected with the virus, the more the rate of hospitalizations will go up and hospitals will run out of bed spaces and correspondingly, people who have other ailments will not be able to access healthcare.

The PTF Chairman thus revealed that in a bid to arrest the increasing transmission across the country government is looking at developing health regulations which would be of universal applications across all states.

He further added that there is already a strain on medical personnel as medical front-liners are under intense pressure to meet the needs of patients who are infected with COVID-19.

The statement by Boss Mustapha reads thus in full; “We must be very aggressive with our communication because we are at a tipping point; the more people are infected, the more the rate of hospitalizations will go up and we will run out of bed spaces and correspondingly, people who have other ailments will not be able to access healthcare.

“So, people will be dying of COVID-19 and people will be dying of other ailments. There will be a strain on medical personnel and right now, our medical front-liners are under intense pressure to meet the needs of patients who are infected with COVID-19. So, we are at a tipping point and my plea to Nigerians is that we must arrest this transmission and that is why we are looking at developing health regulations which would be of universal applications across all states and we have convinced the states today at our meeting that it must be backed up with enforcement through their local regulations and laws.”

He said: “Mr President has approved the establishment of at least one new oxygen plant in each state of the federation, while the existing ones will be made fully functional. We continue to thank the Private Sector initiative as well as the Nigerian Air Force for their continued support.

“The PTF is working to develop new Health Protection Regulations to support existing COVID-19 protocols and to strengthen compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions across the country,” the SGF added.

On the presentation of fake tests results by Nigerian’s who want to travel abroad, Boss Mustapha said; “This remains a major source of concern to the Federal Government. The PTF has directed private laboratories to immediately put in place measures to validate results and ensure that all passengers are registered on the travel portal before samples are processed to stop this activity. The National Co-ordinator will elaborate on this.

“The PTF is aware that the world is at a critical phase of infections. We are constantly reviewing our strategy to emerging situations, especially in risk communication, vaccine hesitancy, fake news/disinformation,” he concluded.