Skip to main content

NCDC Demands Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly Assessment As Schools Reopen


 As schools resume nationwide, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has urged states to conduct risk assessment to mitigate the exposure level of pupils to COVID-19.

The centre advised that the risk assessment should be conducted weekly by schools, monthly by local government areas and quarterly by states.

Speaking at a media briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, the Director-General of the NCDC, Dr Chike Ihekweazu, explained that the agency and the Federal Ministry of Education had developed a guideline to support states and schools in preparing for safe reopening.

He stated, “Schools should provide learners with a ‘medical status’ form to be completed by all parents and kept in confidence by the school head; ensure that a triage point is identified and well-marked at the entrance where everyone gaining access to the school is screened for high temperature, requested to wear masks and perform hand hygiene and ensure that classrooms are well ventilated with a minimum of one-metre sitting arrangement.”

The DG emphasised that all staff, visitors and students above six years must wear face masks at all times, adding that teachers had the discretion to define circumstances when the wearing of a face mask is not appropriate for children, particularly, those with special needs.

The agency equally recommended access to running water, soap and hand washing facilities, pointing out that staff at the sickbay should be trained and provided with required personal protection equipment.

The task force added that Nigeria had been able to conduct 600,000 tests for COVID-19.

It regretted that all the states of the federation failed to meet the testing target set for them.

The National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, disclosed this at the briefing.

He said, “With the reopening of schools, the PTF remains concerned about the long-term impact of COVID-19 on education and eventually our economy.

“As of today, we are approaching about 600,000 Nigerians that have been tested for COVID-19. This might sound like a huge figure but it is actually quite low.

“Our target is for every state to test at least one per cent of its population. Only the FCT has achieved this target. Lagos is fast approaching (target), with about 97 per cent achievement. But other states are barely above 25 per cent.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

EndSARS: Protesters In New York Want SARS Operatives Sacked

 Hundreds of young anti-SARS protesters on Sunday stormed the Nigeria House in New York demanding transparency in the disbandment of the police unit back home. The protesters said operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad found wanting should be sacked and not redeployed. Among them was Stephen “Papi” Ojo, the artist, model, and choreographer who stole the show as the ‘blue-guy’ in Beyoncé’s “Already” music video. The protest started shortly after the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Adamu also announced plans for a new arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps following the disbandment, and the constitution of an investigative team to probe the alleged cases of rights violations, among others. But the protesters, who bore placards with different inscriptions including, “We no want audio ban”, said they were not buying it. They argued that previous commitments announced by the force to change...

Open grazing ban in South irreversible, Akeredolu replies Malami

  The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has tackled the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami, for faulting the ban placed on open grazing in the Southern part of the country. The Southern Governors had at a meeting in Asaba last week banned open grazing and asked the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to address the nation over the increasing rate of insecurity in the country. However, Malami who appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Wednesday faulted the ban, arguing that the governor had no right to do that. Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, spoke in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, titled, ‘ Our decision is irreversible and will be enforced ’. He asked the AGF to challenge the governor’s position on open grazing in court, adding that Malami’s comments were “ unfortunate and wicked ”. Part of the statement read, “I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney...

Biden Announces Purchase Of 200M Vaccine Doses

  President Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Tuesday aimed at ramping up coronavirus vaccine allocation and distribution, including the purchase of 200 million more vaccine doses and increased distribution to states by millions of doses next week. With those additional doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans -- nearly the entire US population -- by the end of summer or early fall. He described efforts to combat Covid-19 as a "wartime undertaking." We now have a national strategy to beat Covid-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. As part of the new efforts announced Tuesday, the US will buy 100 million more doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million more from Moderna -- the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and Moderna are working to step up p...