The nationwide non-compliance with the Presidential Taskforce for COVID-19 guidelines on Monday had been faulted by the Federal Government.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu stated this during the task force press briefing in Abuja.
He warned that the President, Muhammadu Buhari could restore the lockdown if the guidelines were not being adhered to and there was a surge in coronavirus cases.
According to him, banks were among the businesses that were allowed to open for business on Monday.
However, he denounced that many banks limited the number of their branches that were opened, noting that there would be a spike in infections as many customers did not adhere to the social distance rules.
According to the NCDC DG, “When we say take responsibility this time, yes, we are addressing individuals, but we really need to address corporate Nigeria. There is the benefit of the doubt, but when you limit the number of branches opened, everyone goes to the one branch that is opened and that becomes counterproductive.
“Today, we might forgive a little bit because it was the first day. We will have infections because of what happened today, no doubt about that. Everybody here (on the PTF) knew today would be a problem because, for the first time, people were let out of their homes.
“We can produce all the guidelines in the world. We can preach and do press conferences, but how can we learn from the mistakes of today, tomorrow, and the day after, so that, by Friday, hopefully, we have normalized some of these things?”
He stated that organizations must support the implementation of the preventive measures, help manage the risk, and focus on a risk-based approach.
He also warned that the President could restore the lockdown if the guidelines stated by the taskforce are not strictly followed by the people.
The expert said, “Today (Monday), some of the measures are being eased. Initial reports are not too pleasing across the country. Now that we have seen the sunlight again, the challenge for us as a society is, how do we organize ourselves to mitigate these risks and limit transmissions from each other?
“Though we might have a few extra infections today and tomorrow, what we don’t want is an explosion of new infections? If we do have that explosion, there will be almost no choice left for the leadership of the country but to ask all of us to go back to our homes”.
