THE Health Sector Reform Coalition has condemned the lifting of bans on some gatherings including Friday prayers and Easter services, by some states governors.
This was contained in a press statement issued on Friday by Dcn. Mike Egboh and Dr. Chizoba Wonodi HSRC COVID-19 Response Task Team Co-chairs which copy was made available to newsmen in Lokoja.
They stated that cases in Nigeria have multiplied from one to 288 in six weeks with seven deaths stressing that number of states with established cases have
risen from one to 17 within the same period.
“COVID-19 does not go to sleep at night, market days, Fridays or Sundays. Infected people without any symptoms can still transmit the virus as over 2500 infections in France was linked to a single religious gathering while about 230 infections in South Korea were linked to a religious group where members continued gathering.
“Crowd gathering should be avoided, and at all time maintain at least 2 m or 6 feet or two arm’s length of distance between people and religious and faith institutions are encouraged to explore means of conducting faith activities
remotely/virtually as long as required and provide psychosocial and mental health support and resilience.
They added that HSRC with its membership of over 100 non-governmental actors, working to improve health care and development across every state in Nigeria, recognises and respects the importance of worship and religious
celebrations to us Nigerians.
“We acknowledge and value the role of religious leaders and faith-based organizations in providing spiritual support through faith for their followers in a healthy and safe environment.
“We implore our governors to cancel all plans or reverse the directives to lift the ban on religious and other gatherings until the NCDC and Federal Ministry of Health advise otherwise – No matter the pressure, this is not the time for populism.
“We also called on the federal government and state governments to increase the delivery of economic mitigation packages to households and individuals that are in need, to reduce the pressure on people to go out for their daily living.
They noted that the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and similar decision by some governors across the country was a welcome development.
“It is important for containing the spread of COVID-19, avoiding the high number of deaths that might follow and the disastrous effects on the health system and economy, as we are seeing with countries like US, Italy, Spain, UK, amongst others.
