Oyedepo Counters PTF, Says Reopening of Churches, Prayers Reason For Reduction in Coronavirus Cases in Nigeria

Presiding Bishop, Living Faith Worldwide, David Oyedepo has said reopening of churches reason behind the reduction in covid-19 infections in the country.

Oyedepo, who stated this on Saturday during the church’s Covenant Hour of Prayer said contrary to claims by some individuals that reopening churches could lead to a spike in cases, the reverse has been the case.

“I’ve never seen where people think like that. The Church is ordained a solution centre for the world. This data is a clear evidence that the Church has the solution; when we pray, God hears.

“Thank God for the prayers we pray in the house; there is a prayer we pray in the Temple where the fire comes from Heaven and consumes the sacrifice. That’s why we are here. Jesus is Lord.

“The same way, my God will level out every everlasting mountain standing before your life. You can’t be at the base of Liberation and be a victim of captivity. From now, they will start recording zero, zero, zero cases of coronavirus” he said.

But the Presidential Task Force on covid-19 (PTF), last week attributed the reduction in case to low testing rate. Speaking during the daily briefing of the task force on August 31, the Head of Surveillance of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Elsie Ilori said sample collection in states has drastically reduced.

He said “In July, there were seven states with decreased samples collected, but unfortunately, in August, it increased to 32 states with decreased samples collection. In July, we had 13 states that actually collected over 1,000 samples. For August, no state met that target. That means we had zero states collecting over 1,000 samples.

“For the local government areas, in July we had 515 that collected samples and it decreased to 478 in August. We can appreciate the decrease in August.

“In August, states with the biggest increase are Abia (682), Sokoto (331), Bayelsa (314), Zamfara (55) and Yobe (12), but the numbers are not significant at all.

“In the same month, the biggest decrease in sample collection are Kano (19,108), Lagos (13,146), Oyo (4,902), Edo (3,327), and FCT (3,322). August sample collection has decreased drastically.”