The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has announced that the deadly COVID-19 pandemic will get to all the 36 states of the federation.
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The Director-General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, on Thursday, said this while giving an update on the progress of the Centre during a televised programme.
Four hundred and seven persons have been infected by the disease across 22 states, with 128 persons discharged and 12 deaths, according to the NCDC.
Ihekweazu, comparing the virus to Lassa Fever while speaking, said that the virus will spread to all the 36 states in Nigeria.
He stated:
We have responded to Lassa smoothly and nobody shut down the country because it wasn’t necessary, the response was fairly efficient.
Now, COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria, there is no reason why it won’t – it is a respiratory virus.
The DG assured that the NCDC will continue to be transparent with its operations while stressing that the virus “will circulate in Nigeria, absolutely no doubt.”
He continued:
We just activated the lab in Kano a few days ago. So, these are the results of the increased testing capacity that we are providing for the country.
The tests are fairly robust; I can’t say 100 per cent but they are as close to that as possible. We had the highest number of positive cases in a single day.
Since the onset of the outbreak, we are testing a lot more (and) that is beginning to show. It is only so much we can do from NCDC; we are working with the state governments.
They actually own the response at the state and local levels, and we need all of them now. We really have to face the reality that this is an outbreak, this is a virus.
It will circulate in Nigeria, absolutely no doubt and our responsibility as a country
Following the report of 34 new cases in the country, Nigeria now has 234 cases with 12 deaths so far.
