Dr Rufus Ebegba, Director-General, National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), has advised Nigerians to abide by the stay at home order by the Federal Government to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
Ebegba gave this advice in statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
He expressed dismay over the flagrant abuse of the stay at home directives of the Federal Government as part of efforts to curb and eliminate the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Ebegba said the pandemic was now spreading into communities and it was becoming alarming as community spread of the disease would be difficult to trace and manage due to the nature of some communities in the country.
“This Virus has started transmitting into communities and this is going to be bad for us as a nation, if it is not properly managed and it can only be managed with the cooperation of the citizens.
” The community spread of this virus is dangerous as contact tracing will be difficult and some people with the disease do not show any immediate symptoms.
“This will in turn cause further spreading of the virus, spelling doom for the country.
He said the cooperation of every individual was needed in other to eliminate this harmful Biological Agent.
“The President has given directives and it is the duty of every Nigerian to do his/her part by following the directive of staying at home, maintaining physical distancing and abiding by other hygienic practices.
“When everyone is at home and physical distance is maintained, the virus will stop spreading and cases will drastically reduce.
“COVID-19 is in battle with humanity but our collective will, commitment and faithfulness to directives will go a long way for us to over come this invisible scourge that has threatened our existence,” he said.
The director-general appealed to Nigerians to endure and be patient with the government, which he said was doing everything possible to ensure that citizens are safe and their welfare taken care of.
” Nigerians should ensure they keep abiding by the safety precautionary measures in other not to contact the novel virus as there is no cure and the only way to stop the spread is for everyone to fight in unity”.
Ebegba said the NBMA was in synergy with relevant agencies in ensuring that efforts are being made to combat the pandemic as all hands are on deck to ensure that COVID-19 is contained and eliminated in Nigeria.(NAN)
