The Nigerian government has said it would review the resumption date for schools in the country on account of the rising cases of Covid-19 infection.
“The issue of January 18 for school resumption is subject to review. Even at our PTF meeting today we discussed it in line with the rising cases in the country. So we are subject to review the date,” Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, told journalists on Monday at the meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the Covid-19 pandamic.
Nigeria had previously shifted the resumption date to January 18, from January 4, previously announced. The government explained shift was necessitated by the rising wave of the virus infection.
While a few states reopened their schools, others say theirs would reopen next week in line with the shift announced by the federal government.
Since then, the official daily rate of infection has risen to over 1,000 cases, a number that was not recorded even during the lockdown period.
On Monday, January 11, Nigeria recorded 1244 new infection cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. That raised the total reported cases in Nigeria to 101,331 and 1361 deaths.
Boss Mustapha, Secretary the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the PTF, said Monday that that reopening of schools is among the causes of virus spike. Other factors he blamed were the reopening of businesses and religious centres.
Meanwhile, the NCDC is warning that soon, Nigeria will be unable to cope with serious cases of the virus.
“We are reaching a critical level where our hospital capacity will no longer be able to cope with more serious COVID-19 cases and health workers will be forced to make tough decisions. We need to protect our more vulnerable citizens,” Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, director of the centre, said in a tweet.
“We all have to take responsibility. This is not for the NCDC, the PTF or government alone. By organising large gatherings indoors, you’re not only putting yourself and guests at risk but also the staff who have limited choice but to serve. By going to clubs, you’re putting your parents at risk.”
According to him, the number of coronavirus cases reported in the country had been on the rise in the last four weeks.
“In the last four weeks, we’ve recorded a spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases. The virus is spreading fast, causing mild symptoms in some and severe illness/death in others,” he added.
