Mr John Gabaya, Chairman, Bwari Area Council of the FCT, has urged staff members of the council to take seriously and adhere to COVID-19 protocols as provided by the Federal Government.
Gabaya gave the advice while addressing the members of staff at the council secretariat on Friday in Abuja.
The chairman said that it was necessary to reiterate the importance of the COVID-19 preventive measures as the virus was real and the measures put in place were the only ways to stop the spread.
He also urged security personnel of the council to help ensure that visitors going into the council complex adhered to the protocols, especially wearing of face masks before entry.
He noted also that both staff members and visitors must keep physical distances from each other among other guidelines put in place on entry and within the facility.
The council had shut down activities at the secretariat for 10 days since Monday, Jan. 11, and reopened on Thursday, Jan. 21.
This was to enable fumigation of the secretariat following a rise in the number of infectious cases within communities of the FCT and the country at large.
In a similar development, Dr Gabriel Ameh, a physician in the district, had also called on residents to take the preventive measures against the virus seriously.
Ameh said that laxity on the part of members of the community could lead to further spread of the virus which had presently distabilised the whole world.
According to him, it is not enough to wear a face mask but people must wear it properly.
This, he noted, was for the sake of individual’s health and not because the government mandated that it should be done.
“We must not relax, we must take these do’s and don’ts seriously or else we will continue to have increase in number of infected persons across board.
“Let’s do the needful; wash hands continually or sanitise; keep the physical distance rule.
“We must wear face masks once outside and properly too, not below the chin as I often see people do in public.
“It is not because we do not want to be harassed at some point by government officials but because it is the right thing to do.
“This goes a long way to curb the spread, more than we can imagine.”
Ameh called on government at all levels not to relent in the war against the pandemic but must continue the campaign against it in all nooks and crannies of the society.
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 had on Thursday, Jan. 21, confirmed 1,964 new cases of the virus in Nigeria with Lagos leading with 824 cases, followed by FCT with 246 and Plateau with 166, among others.