The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has warned Nigerians against going to Kogi and four other states in the northern part of the country.
The task force said it is issuing the warning based on its inability to ascertain the level of spread of the pandemic in the states, particularly Kogi State.
Besides Kogi, other states mentioned by the task force were Yobe, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi.
The PTF also named 22 local government areas spread across 13 states which he said constituted over 95 per cent of infection rates in the country and had been classified as high-burdened.
The National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, made this known at the media briefing by the task force on Monday.
Aliyu, who was represented by the National Incident Manager, PTF, Dr Muktar Mohammed, said the task force had analysed the epidemic in the country and identified 22 high-burdened LGAs located within 13 states.
He listed the states and local governments to include Nkanu-West, Enugu; Abuja Municipal Area Council and Gwagwalada, FCT; Gombe, Gombe; Chikun, Kaduna-North and Kaduna South, Kaduna; Nassarawa, Kano; Katsina, Katsina; Ilorin-South, Ilorin-West, Kwara; Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland; Keffi and Lafia, Nasarawa; Ibadan-North Oyo; Jos-North, Jos-South, Plateau; Port-Harcourt, Rivers; and Wamako, Sokoto.
He said, “These local government areas which are mostly in the cities or the state capitals contribute over 95 per cent of the epidemic, particularly new cases in the country.
“The states include Nasarawa, which has both Lafia and Keffi; Plateau, Jos-North and Jos-South; Rivers, which is Port Harcourt; Katsina; Sokoto; Kaduna, both Kaduna-North, Kaduna-South and Chikun LGAs; about five local government areas in Lagos; FCT, AMAC and Gwagwalada; Enugu; Gombe; Kano; Kwara, Ilorin-South and Ilorin-North.
“These LGAs, as I mentioned, contribute over 95 per cent of the new cases that have been recorded in the last six weeks.”
Speaking on the high-risk states, Aliyu said, “In addition to this, we have states where data are not coming forth. If you don’t test, your data will not be analysed. If your data is not analysed, we won’t know the level of the epidemic in your state.
“Notable among the states that have not been reporting adequately are Yobe, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kebbi; and of course, Kogi State that has not been reporting at all.
“States that are not testing are probably at much higher risk than the states that currently we are as high-burdened states. A state that is not testing at all is at absolute high risk for Nigerians to go there because there is no testing facility.”
Kogi, which is a confluence state, shares borders with many states with high cases of Covid-19.
But despite this, the governor of the state, Yahaya Bello who happens to be the youngest governor in Nigeria has been insisting that the deadly virus is not in Nigeria.
The State did not record any case of Covid-19 for months while the first wave lasted.
Recently, Bello made an outlandish claim that the Covid-19 vaccines that countries across the world are jostling to secure is meant to kill Nigerians.
