COVID-19: Group declares April 6 national day of prayer

Legacy Initiative International, an advocacy group, has declared April 6 a national day of prayer to seek God’s intervention in the fight against COVID-19.

In a statement on Friday, Kenny Martins, grand patron of the initiative, said traditional and religious leaders in the country were consulted before deciding on the date.

He listed some of them to include Adeyeye Ogunwusi, ooni of Ife; Sa’ad Abubakar III, sultan of Sokoto; and Supo Ayokunle, president of the Christian Association Of Nigeria (CAN).

Martins encouraged Nigerians at home and in the diaspora to pray by 12 noon on Monday for God for healing.

“Nigeria and rest of the world in the last three months have been bedevilled with the coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID 19,” he said in a statement.

“The virus which has become pandemic in proportion has killed thousands of people all over the world.

“In the light of the foregoing, Monday, April 6, 2020, has been declared National Day of Prayers by 12noon.

“Nigerians both at home and those in the diaspora have been urged to go on their knees for 10 minutes at this precise hour by stopping everything we are doing, anywhere we are to pray for God’s grace and intervention in this ravaging coronavirus pandemic. Seek God’s mercy and healing of our land, nation, our leaders, our families and the world.”

The number of coronavirus cases across the world is over one million, according to information obtained from Worldometer, a website that provides real-time updates on the situation of the disease globally.

A total of 1,030,285 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in 204 countries and territories including 54,199 deaths and 219,896 recovered patients.

Italy and Spain are the worst-hit countries with 13,915 and 10,935 deaths respectively.

Meanwhile, the United States of America has the highest number of confirmed cases — 245,380.

As at Thursday evening, Africa recorded 6,470 cases across 49 countries, with 241 deaths, and 504 recoveries.

In Nigeria, the number of confirmed cases has increased to 190, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

While 20 persons have recovered from the disease in the country, two persons have died from COVID-19.