School reopening is dangerous, may spike hike cases of COVID-19, NMA tells FG
- The NMA has warned against the spread of coronavirus pandemic among Nigerians
- Innocent Ujah, the NMA president made this disclosure on Wednesday, January 20
- Ujah said that the reopening of schools by the FG could lead to increased cases of COVID-19
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The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has told the federal government to review its position on the resumption of all public and private schools across Nigeria.
Punch reports that the president of NMA, Prof. Innocent Ujah, said on Wednesday, January 20, that there would be an increase in COVID-19 infections as schools reopened amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Legit.ng gathered that the NMA president said though schools would not be closed forever, there was the need for school administrators to enforce all COVID-19 protocols outlined by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to forestall the spread of the infection.
Source: Twitter
Ujah said:
“We are not saying they should not reopen schools because we don’t know how long the pandemic will last. But if we have to open schools, NYSC camps, market places or airports, we should obey the NCDC protocols. Once we do that, we are likely to reduce the rate of infections and the extent to which people get infected.
“We expect that. We expect a spike. Even the National Identity Number registration is another avenue to harvest more cases. People are falling over one another, no social distancing or use of hand sanitisers or regular handwashing.”
Ujah, however, urged the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to suspend the NIN enrolment process as the country is in a health emergency whereas the NIN enrolment is not an emergency.
The NMA president further noted that the laxity of Nigerians to COVID-19 protocols in the months of September and October 2020 caused the spike that plunged the country into the second wave of the virus.
He added:
“The reality now is that we have an upsurge as this variant of Covid-19 appears to be more deadly. The infectivity rate appears to be high, so, we expect that a higher number of Nigerians will be infected and probably many more will die –unfortunately many are already dying; we are losing our colleagues –nurses, doctors. Only today, one of our colleagues died of COVID-19 in Lagos."
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that despite the order made on Thursday, January 14, for the resumption of all private and public schools across the country on January 18, the federal government said it was against the decision.
It was reported that while speaking at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, on Monday, January 18, the minister of education, Adamu Adamu, said the federal government did not agree with the states on the resumption date.
NIMC: Amidst Covid19 spike, crowd gathers for NIN registration | - on Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
