Dr. Sani Aliyu, was seen urging Nigerians to ignore the message that the task force had declared lockdown.

Aliyu said, “We are aware of the fake message that has been going round that we have declared lockdown in the country, this is not true.

“I am calling on the general public to ignore this message and continue with their normal activities and abide by the non-pharmaceutical measures which include wearing face masks in public, washing your hands and keeping of [social] distance.

“There is an established way of passing our messages to the public. Please, ignore what has been going round.”

In a statement by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, the committee said the viral video had nothing to do with the recently released guidelines.

The statement, titled, ‘PSC says video in circulation not new,’ reads, “The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, wishes to inform the public that the audiovisual clip of the erstwhile national coordinator under the defunct PTF circulating on the social media is an old video and has nothing to do with the recent guidelines released.”

It explained that the recently released implementation guidelines were “not new as being speculated.”

The statement further said that the guidelines, which were issued in 2020, were reissued on Monday “to reinforce existing provisions of the COVID-19 Health Protection Regulations, 2021 to serve as a reminder that the global pandemic is still virulent.

“The Presidential Steering Committee urges the public to disregard the old video of the PTF circulating on the social media and to comply with non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 in all their activities to avoid a surge as being experienced in some parts of the world.

“All state governments are to please ensure strict compliance,” it said.

source: Punch