Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the presidential task
force (PTF) on COVID-19, says the committee is concerned about reports of
people being smuggled in trucks out of Lagos.
Giving updates on COVID-19 on Thursday, Aliyu said
inter-state travels are leading to community spread of the disease.
He appealed to Nigerians to limit their movement if the
disease must be curtailed.
Several states in the country had banned inter-state travels
in a bid to check the spread of COVID-19.
“I will like to talk on travel restrictions and to
reemphasise the need for people to stay at home especially in the FCT, Lagos
and Ogun. I would also like to note the issue of people travelling in-between
states, inter-state travel. We have noticed that community spread is now being
traced to people travelling across state borders,” Aliyu said.
“We need to try and restrict our movement in order to stop
the spread of the coronavirus. This is particularly pertinent with regards to
news of people being smuggled in trucks out of Lagos which is quite concerning
to us.”
On their parts, Osagie Enahire, minister of health, and
Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease
Control, (NCDC) raised concerns about
how stigmatisation is inhibiting the government’s fight against the outbreak.
Ihekwazu said stigmatising people who tested positive for
COVID-19 would cause them to run away from treatment, consequently leading to
further spread of the disease.
“People have been asking questions, where are the people
with COVID-19 living? What part of town are they? Of course, everyone is
anxious and frightened. Unfortunately, this anxiety seems to be leading to
stigmatisation,” Ihekweazu said.
“When the HIV hit our world, we did the same thing. But this
is an infection, it doesn’t get to you because you have done anything bad or
you have committed a crime. It is not karma, it is just a virus.
“The people with this virus have children, wives, family
members. They need to be respected. It affects their mental well being if we as
a society are stigmatising them.
“It is preventing our work from happening because contacts
are choosing not to come forward, to hide, to run away, because we have started
stigmatising them. What makes us a great nation is our humanity. If we start
stigmatising people because of an infection, it will not only disrupt all the
great work being done across the country but it will have a profound impact on
our ability to control this outbreak and our ability to get back to life.
“What will happen is that people will go underground, they
won’t come out for testing, infect others and the cycle will continue. All
these things are connected.”
Ehanire said: “The next phase of our strategy in the health
sector due to the available evidence of community transmission in Nigeria, now
focuses on community response rather than individual travellers and their
contacts in the society. There will be more community testing.
“COVID-19 outbreak seems to have provoked some social stigma
and rejection of anyone thought to have been in contact with the virus as well as
their caregivers, families, friends who may be stereotyped and discriminated
against.
“This is not necessary because stigma can prompt social
isolation of persons or groups and drive people to hide the illness and prevent
them from seeking healthcare immediately.
“This could cause a situation where the virus is more likely
to spread and increase difficulty of controlling the outbreak response.”
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