COVID-19: NCDC Eyes 2m Tests In Three Months
- Decries States’ frustrating attitude
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI, ABUJA – The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has promised to hit the two million target in testing Nigerians for Coronavirus (COVID-19) within the next three months.
The assurance is coming from its Director General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, who said the target is driven by the presidential directive for aggressive testing and contact tracing measures across the country.
However, the NCDC boss alluded that this laudable target might be unrealisable if some state governments continue to maintain their uncooperative and frustrating attitude towards the exercise.
Speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF)’s daily briefing on COVID-19 Control in Abuja, Dr Ihekweazu said; “The laboratory strategic group that is responding to this outbreak has set itself a target of testing two million people in the next three months.
“This is a very ambitious target. We are working very hard with our development partners and all our friends to equip our labs to be able to do this.”
He however admitted that it will not be a tea party given the huge expenses involved, saying; “It is going to cost us a lot of money but we can’t do this without a lot of collaboration from everyone.
“In countries that have achieved a lot more in terms of testing like in South Africa that we always refer to, they have tested a lot more. It is also not just that they have tested more, but they have tested according to the proportion of their population.
“We are lagging behind, but now we have to catch up. So, when I refer to this, it is really as an epidemiological indicator of how well the response is doing.
“In order to test two million people in three months, we need to test about 50 thousand per state (plus or minus), depending on our population size. There is no other way we can do this.”
The NCDC Chief Executive said the entry point into COVID-19 control is testing because of the prevalence of a number of asymptomatic infections and mildly symptomatic people.
According to him, “We really can’t understand the size of the problem if we do not test. We have built on the lab side by expanding capacity, now we have to build on the supply side to see that the samples come in.”
The NCDC Director General is however worried that not much progress has been in the testing process because quite unfortunately, some states are demonstrating hostile attitude towards the Agency and its officials for no explainable reason(s)
He however, assured that notwithstanding the frustration and lack of cooperation, the NCDC remains focused and would not be distracted from delivering on its mandate.
On measures to address noticeable challenges, Dr Ihekweazu said; “Over the next few weeks, I will be engaging aggressively with every state to get their buy-in.”
He said the NCDC would be all out persuade the States and all relevant stakeholders to partner with it, adding that such arrangement is required to not only increase the Centre’s capacity to test, but also its capacity to send in the samples within specified timeframe.
