The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos state chapter, has said the level of coronavirus infection in Nigeria has not gotten to a stage where religious gathering and activities should be banned.
The Christian organization, however, said it is necessary for the government to take proactive measures to stop the virus from spreading, The Nation reports. CAN also advise religious organizations including churches and mosques to take action to safeguard members from infection.
Apostle Alexander Bamgbola, the chairman Lagos CAN, urged the federal government to further secure Nigeria’s borders to prevent the virus from spreading. He said God has kept it away from Nigeria because the country cannot contain the pandemic. “Our nation cannot afford to welcome or accommodate coronavirus in our land. God forbid it in Jesus’ name,” he said. “We are watching the situation very closely to know what we must do. God has kept it away from us because we cannot contain the pandemic here. “We have not got to that point and we believe we won’t get there.
Meanwhile, five new cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) have been officially confirmed in Nigeria, bringing the number of the victims to eight as the deadly virus spreads beyond borders. The new cases were confirmed by the special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on new media, Tolu Ogunlesi, on Wednesday, March 18, barely twenty-four hours after the third case was reported.
In a series of tweets, Ogunlesi said four of the victims are Nigerians who just came from the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The presidential aide also claimed that one of the four new Nigerian victims is a 6-week old baby — the youngest victim reported so far. He added that the fifth victim is a “foreign national who came in through the land border — the first case of infection via the land border in Nigeria. Ogunlesi also disclosed that of the new five cases, four of it were reported in Lagos while the fifth case is in Ekiti state, arguably the first case of the virus in the southwest state.