COVID-19: Stop Focusing On Numbers – NCDC Boss Urges Nigerians

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  • Confirms 10,000 tests so far
  • Says things are looking good
  • Health Minister assures of success

BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – As public criticisms continue to trail to the paltry numbers of persons being tested for coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed that about 10,000 persons have undergone the test till date.

However, Director General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, insists that Nigerians must stop the comparison game where their focus is only numbers as a way of upbraiding the country’s testing capacity.

This is as the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, also explained that every country is coming up with strategies that best suits the fight against coronavirus and Nigeria is not an exception.

Speaking at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja on Thursday, Ihekweazu said since Nigeria is not playing the numbers game with its citizens’ lives, the comparison in the public space with countries like South Africa and Ghana is absolutely unnecessary.

“We know that the numbers are always thrown around comparing us with South Africa and Ghana, but we are not playing the game of numbers here, these are people’s lives – human beings. Before we test anyone, we go through a risk assessment to make sure it is appropriate to test the person”, the NCDC boss said.

Ihekweazu, who assured that the country has “a very good strategy around testing”, further said; “Until recently, we had about 5,000 test but last week, we have moved from 5,000 to 10,000 tests.

“We are going to continue to scale up our testing rapidly. We have just got our first set of reagents for high throughput testing.”

On the current disturbing situation in Kano state, Ihekweazu said the NCDC is working hard on it but that time is needed to effectively address the challenge, adding; “We need time. We have reports that there have been deaths. Our first line of action is to verify if it is true and what will be our next line of action if that is the case.”

According to him, “We have a team that is working with the government of Kano state to verify the incident and make sure that what is going on is actually what is being reported. Then, we will carry out control measures and see if it is an infectious disease, COVID-19, or something else.”

He said “Unlike Lagos that has a gradual increase in cases, the cases are really increasing rapidly in Kano state. Kano state situation is not a very simple thing to manage. We are working with them to increase the organisational efficiency of response. Also, the treatment centre in Kano state have a capacity of about 300.”

Aligning with the NCDC Director General on the issues around the number of tests so far carried out in the country, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire maintained that with the strategy in put to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria is determine to win the war.

“We are not flattening the curve, but we are pushing the curve to one side so that we have enough time to prepare our ‘not very strong’ health system”, he said

Offering further insight, the Minister said; “Also, in the beginning, we did not have enough reagents, in fact, we carried-out our tests in South Africa. But two months down the line, we can carry out our own tests with the 13 existing NCDC laboratories across the country.”

On the hues and cries about Nigeria’s non deployment of rapid test kits to boost its testing capacity nationwide, Dr Ehanire said; “Concerning the use of rapid test kits, the World Health Organization (WHO), has not validated any of it.”

“They believe that the results are not reliable, but it probably gives you a direction. Therefore, there is not enough faith in rapid diagnostic test”, the Health Minister said

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