The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has told Nigerians to ignore rumours of fresh lockdown alert in circulation on social media.
PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, said this in a short video released on Thursday.
The rumour started following the emergence of a purported WhatsApp message from a member of the PTF, which claimed there will be a total lockdown in Nigeria from next week.
But Aliyu has now insisted that the federal government was aware of the economic implication of a fresh lockdown.
He said, “We are aware of a fake message on WhatsApp that we’ve declared a lockdown in the country. This is absolutely not true. I call on the Nigerian public to please ignore this message and continue with normal activities.
“I’m also calling on the public to abide by the non-pharmaceutical interventions including wearing of face masks in the public, washing of hands and maintaining physical distancing.
“There is an established way that we send our messages to the public including declarations when it comes to infection control. So, please ignore what is being going round on WhatsApp.”