The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has issued a warning that the use of face masks alone is useless in the fight against the coronavirus.
The warning came yesterday from the Director-General of the NCDC Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu in Abuja at the 9th joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
Ihekweazu stated that it was better to keep ‘physical distance’ of two meters instead of maintaining the social distance as it is critical in reducing the spread of the virus taking into consideration the overpopulated nature of the country.
“Even when we announce our decision on mask, the masks are not going to solve the problem. So, there have been some messages around the country seeming to imply that wearing a mask makes all the other measures no longer necessary. This is simply not the case.
That is very good but it’s not enough and we have to push that proportion even further down. So, I’m hoping that as data becomes available for the next few days, we will see a further reduction because our future really depends on this. What we are suggesting is not for you to be socially apart from each other, we are suggesting that we stay physically apart. You can use technology to enhance your social relations.”
The Director-General also said that it is the proximity of persons that enables the transmission of the virus, and that social distancing is key.
He revealed that there are people moving about with virus without showing symptoms, adding that people can infect others two days before their own symptoms start to show.
“While everybody has been talking about the asymptomatic, the most important are the pre-symptomatic. People that have become infected, will become symptomatic but don’t know yet because there in a few days before that has happened and that is why we have to increase the distance between us”.
