COVID-19: We hope to have vaccines before end of first quarter – Dr Muhammad

The Federal Government says it is doing all it can to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines arrive in Nigeria before the end of the first quarter.

This was disclosed by Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, the National Incident Manager of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

Dr. Muhammad who was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily stated that the govt is doing its best to get enough vaccines.

He further stated that the government is looking at making sure that at least 70 to 80 percent of Nigerians get vaccinated.

Speaking on the possibility of a lockdown, Dr. Muhammad said the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 is considering targeted lockdown in some key states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and Lagos State.

The PTF Incident Manager said the government is troubled by the level of compliance to COVID-19 regulations across the country.

According to him, data available shows that urban areas have the highest cases of COVID within the frame of the pandemic’s second wave in Nigeria.

He noted that while the Federal Government wants economic activities to continue, these activities must hold under the guidelines as stipulated by the PTF.

Dr Muhammad also revealed that the authorities are analyzing the data and the government has been looking at the geographical areas that have been most affected and the different age groups.

“Certainly, even if we are going to have a lockdown, it is not going to be a total lockdown. A couple of weeks back, we analysed the data and we identified the hotspot local government areas.

“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Plateau. Even in most other states, it is the urban areas that are involved. So, if we are going to have any restrictions, it will be in these areas.

“The urban areas are the most affected and that is why we have these superspreaders and that is where we are going to target. We have analysed that and we are advising the states based on the data that these are the focused areas where these transmissions are more than the others,” Dr. Muhammad stated. (Channels TV)