Our Ban On Mass Gatherings Still Stands – NCDC

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu has come out to say that it is yet to relax its guidelines on mass gathering in the coronavirus (COVID-19) protocol.

Dr. Chikwe revealed this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

According to him, it is true that the country is set to allow normal funerals to begin, weddings, baptisms, flights, but the centre is yet to allow large gatherings in the nation.

He added that Nigeria must keep doing everything possible to reduce the risk of making the pandemic worse.

His words, “We are on the verge of opening our flights, airports and we have relaxed intercity travel.

“We know that we have family, loving people and that over the next few weeks, we will all start having this urge to go and visit our parents, our uncles and our aunts.

“We may also restart the funeral activities that we have postponed for months, start the weddings, wine carryings, birthing, baptisms that we have postponed for months.

“Yes, it’s important to do these things and the interstate travel will allow us to do this, but remember we haven’t relaxed the guidelines of mass gatherings.”

“Beyond that, Nigerians have to show their elderly citizens love and affection by not exposing them to the virus as much as they possibly could.

“For some people, the exposure is inevitable because of the nature of this virus, but we mustn’t contribute to increasing the risk.

“Looking through social media today, I saw a brilliant campaign in Edo state, titled ‘our elders our pride’.

“For this to mean something for all of us, we have to put this into action.”