The federal government is to engage 800,000 volunteers nationwide to sensitise Nigerians on the dangers and spread of COVID-19, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, said thursday in Abuja.

And faced with an upsurge in the number of cases and shortage of bed space, the government is considering repurposing hotels and schools to serve as quarantine and isolation centres for COVID-19 patients.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at a press briefing by PTF, Aliyu said the over 800,000 community engagement partners would be drawn from all the 774 local government areas of the federation to sensitise the public about the community spread of the virus and disseminate life-saving messages.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, stated that hotels and school dormitories would be turned into isolation centres to accommodate COVID-19 patients due to shortage of bed space, if the upsurge in the number of cases continues.

Meanwhile, health experts such as the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have kicked against the federal government's plan to reopen schools, saying the decision is ill-timed and capable of slowing down the fight against the pandemic, stakeholders in the education sector have backed the federal government's plan.