Skip to main content

COVID-19: NCDC to increase testing – official



The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it remains focused on the fight against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Nigeria.
The agency said on Monday in Abuja that it would increase testing for the virus across the country as a strategy to succeed.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of NCDC, gave the re-assurance at the daily briefing by Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
“I will like to remind everyone that we remain focused on our target which is to increase testing across the country; during a pandemic, the risk of spread is in those towns where the population density is highest.
“We are all aware of the population density in Kano. The high number of cases we are now seeing in Kano is really not a surprise,” he said.
“Since reporting its index case about two weeks ago, Kano has been the centre of controversies ranging from the rapid increase in number of confirmed cases to the sudden halt of its only testing centre.
“Kano, which currently stands as the third hardest-hit state in Nigeria has so far reported 77 cases out of the 1,273 cases of the infection Nigeria,” he said.
Ihekweazu said that NCDC was also working hard to investigate the cause of some deaths in the state.
He said that the agency did everything possible to activate the Kano laboratory.
The director-general said that the laboratory, domiciled at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, hosted many northern states.
“I am happy to announce that the Kano laboratory will start working this afternoon and start testing samples again as it should be.
”This has not been an easy effort. It has taken the collective effort of my team, the laboratory scientists in Kano and many people that have quietly worked on this to make it happen.
”We will not stop until the laboratory is fully functional again, ” he said.
He noted that there were concerns about happenings in Kano, saying that efforts were being made to address the issues.
“We want to address the Kano issue headlong. We are very concerned about what is happening in the state but there is no magic bullet. We will continue to work hard,” he said.
The NCDC boss clarified that his request on twitter was not for testing kits but for extraction kits.
“ We appreciate the people who have responded positively.
” Some had it in their warehouses and it came up handy for us to work with.
“This is a time for leadership, solidarity and not the time to point fingers. We understand it is a marathon and not a sprint, “ he said.
Ihekweazu disclosed that NCDC had approved a company, 54gene, to test in the private sector.
He said that the NCDC had set up the process and hoped to continue to grow in its network of private laboratories across the country.
While fielding questions on Senegal’s testing kits, he said that the agency would look into it.
Ihekweazu noted that Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa and Yobe were the only states that had yet to confirm any COVID-19 case.
He said that the NCDC was not satisfied with the rate of testing in the states

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Return to lockdown likely, Fed Govt warns Nigerians

This follows Monday’s gross disobedience of the protocols as Nigerians got some relief after weeks of restrictions.It was the first day after the easing of the shutdown to contain the spread of coronavirus in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states.Before the four-week stay-at-home imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari, Lagos and Abuja had been under some forms of restriction for at least one week.Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 is not pleased that there was a breach of social distancing with overcrowding in public places, interstate movement and shunning of face masks.“Today, we might forgive a little bit because it was the first day. However, we will have infections because of what happened today (yesterday), no doubt about that.“But what is more important is how we can learn from the mistakes of today (yesterday) into tomorrow and into next tomorrow, so that by Friday, hopefully they will have normalised some of these things.“The challenge for us as a society is how we now organis...

House of Reps seek N36b special fund for states

The House of Representatives on Tuesday debated the mysterious deaths in Kano State and resolved to ask that N1 billion be made available by the Federal Government to each of the 36 states. The N1 billion intervention is to enable the states provide the needed facilities to combat and prevent further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic . The lawmakers said the impact of the lockdown caused by the spread of the virus has negative financial impact on the state, some of which are already struggling to survive. The House also agreed to summon the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha; Health Minister Osagie Ehanire and the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, over the mass deaths in Kano. These are highlights of the resolutions reached by the lawmakers while debating a motion yesterday. The House directed its Health Committee to investigate the deaths, which have created fear among residents of the state. Mus...

Naira Marley halts exuberance to embrace Ramadan

Naira Marley has put a halt to his exuberances on social media to embrace Islam during the holy month of Ramadan. The 25-year-old father of three stunned his 3.1 million followers on Instagram and 1.1 million followers on Twitter to share quotes from the Quran at the start of Ramadan on Friday, April 24. Reacting to some of the backlashes he got from some followers on Twitter and Instagram, Naira Marley said, “You will never be able to please all of the people all of the time, so concentrate on pleasing your maker (ALLAH) because that’s what matters.” Before the response, the UK trained singer had mocked those calling him out by saying, “Hating on someone you should be using as a prayer point.” Naira Marley was born Azeez Fashola in 1994. In less than 14 months, he became Nigeria’s most controversial music artist with at least 3 viral songs and large followership on social media and music scene. He has proudly promoted sex, alcohol, and drugs in his music but said in dif...