The Presidential Task Force for the control of coronavirus (COVID-19), led by its Chairman, Boss Mustapha, on Tuesday, visited the State House, Abuja, amid speculation of suspected case of the virus.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the Presidential Task Force, which arrived at the Villa at about 2.18p.m., inspected some offices including that of the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
Mustapha and other members of the task force comprising ministers and health experts, spent about 15 minutes inspecting the offices.
ThisDay newspapers reported Tuesday morning that Kyari had tested positive for coronavirus disease,
When contacted for comment on their mission to villa, the task force declined comments, saying Nigerians should await their usual press briefing.
On whether some staff of the State House have tested positive for virus, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, passively stated that: “We don’t mention names in carrying out this responsibility. It’s a global practice so you don’t expect us to mention any name to you.”
After taking a careful look, Mustapha, who is the Secretary to Government of the Federation, advised journalists to imbibe the culture of wearing face masks to protect themselves from the disease.
“You people should start wearing face masks please. I can see that you are not taking this thing seriously. Wear face masks please. It is not a joke,’’ he said.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s statistics as at 2.00pm on Monday 24, indicated that Nigeria confirmed 42 cases of COVID-19 in the country, with two patients discharged and one death.