Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said January 2021 will be a tough month for Nigeria as the number of persons infected with the novel coronavirus in the country is expected to rise, following the disregard of health protocols during the festive period.
Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu made this known while speaking at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Tuesday December 29.
He noted that the nation’s health system is struggling to cope with the increasing number of coronavirus infections daily, adding that a spike in toll in January is imminent.
According to Ihekweazu, the expected surge in infections is due to the disregard of preventive protocols by Nigerians in the last few months, particularly during the yuletide period.
He lamented that social activities has been occurring at a full-scale level without Nigerians thinking about the consequences of their actions.
Ihekweazu said;
We just faced the worst week since we started responding to this outbreak. We had more cases in Nigeria last week than in any other previous week since the beginning of the outbreak.
Pictures and videos from across the country paint a very disheartening situation because it appears that our messages, our appeals to Nigerians over the last few months have not been heeded and we have gone ahead with business as usual.
Events centres are full, social activities are full and so it is no surprises that cases are rising.
He expressed;
January will be a tough month, no doubt about it. So, we have to brace ourselves for the consequences of the activities that we have decided to carry out in December.
As at Tuesday, December 29, Nigeria recorded 85,560 confirmed COVID-19 infections, 71,937 successfully treatment patients and 1,267 deaths.
