COVID-19: FG cancels compulsory wearing of face masks

The federal government has announced that while wearing a face mask indoors is recommended; using it outdoors is now at people’s discretion.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said this in an interview with Newsmen on Friday in Abuja.

Adetifa said using face masks indoors or in high-risk settings like public transport is still recommended but wearing a face mask in outdoor places is discretionary.

He stated that the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 was leveraging on available evidence such as the continuous downward trend of COVID-19 positive case numbers in the country to revise the Travel Protocol.

The NCDC boss said, “As vaccination coverage rises in countries, relaxation of COVID-19-related restrictions including mask mandates is increasing.

“However, the recent COVID-19 surges in many countries have led to questions of whether face masks should be encouraged or required, and for how long.

“Proper mask use reduces the probability of transmission between an individual who is infectious and one who is susceptible to infection and helps protect those with a high risk of infection and severe disease.

“Example, the elderly and those with cardiovascular and other disease and particularly in environments with a high risk of transmission – indoors – and where there is crowding,” he stressed.

“In the past week, there have also been an increase in deaths in South Korea, Malaysia, and New Zealand. As long as there are cases elsewhere, Nigeria remains at risk.

“From our travel testing, we see the UK and U.S. as some of the countries with highest proportion of returning travelers with positive COVID-19 test results.

“Yet, some of these countries like the UK have fully relaxed pre-departure or post-arrival tests for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.

“We cannot copy what countries do because of important differences.

“For example, the UK in addition to having better surveillance and greater capacity for sequencing in place, has vaccinated over 70 per cent of its population and even introduced second booster doses for some at-risk populations.”

Trending Topics: