The Federal Government has said that about 80% of the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases are not in isolation centres.
The Chairman of the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force, Boss Mustapha, made this known while speaking with newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
He revealed that the government is taking care of only 20 per cent of patient who shows up at isolation centres after developing critical symptoms.
He said: “You may care to know that almost 80 per cent of people that are infected are in no form of isolation centre or hospital.
“We are just caring for about 20 per cent that have decided to show up or provide themselves when they are critically ill for the management and care.
“Most people, one of the reasons they decide to avoid the isolation centres or don’t present themselves until it is late and complications begin to develop is because of this simple reason of being rejected and of being treated differently.
“My appeal to all of us as Nigerians is that there is no point stigmatising anybody because he is infected with coronavirus.
“It is a disease that has defiled boundaries, the high and mighty are afflicted, the low and downtrodden are afflicted, the rich are afflicted, and the poor are afflicted. It has no respect for anybody either gender, creed or nationality.”
Mr Mustapha, therefore, urged Nigerians to cooperate with the government to tackle the challenge of resistance to change.
“By far the greatest challenges are human resistance to change, stigmatization, mental health, skepticism, culture, religious belief, rising incidents of domestic violence and a host of others”.
“There is a resurgence of a second wave in countries like China and the USA and this should put all of us on alert, knowing that this virus can only be eliminated if we agree to play our part.
“This call becomes more pertinent as we go fully into the rainy season that ordinarily brings with it cold, catarrh and other COVID-19 mimicking illnesses. Our call to take personal responsibility cannot be more strident than now,” he said.
