Chikwe Ihekweazu,
director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says some
states are yet to submit samples for test to know if they have COVID-19 cases.
While speaking
during a Channels TV programme on Friday, Ihekweazu said the NCDC expects a
number of tests to be conducted for each state.
As of Friday, 26 out
of the 36 states in addition to the federal capital territory (FCT) have
confirmed cases of the disease — totalling 981.
Ihekweazu said while
the NCDC is improving on its testing capacity for COVID-19, it is worrisome
that samples have not been sent by some states yet.
“It is a bit like
pretending like the problem does not exist because you are not looking for it,”
he said.
“In every state, we
expect a certain number of people to fit the case definition of an acute
respiratory infection without an underlying cause.
“If you take away
contacts with travellers and with confirmed cases, the third part of our case
definition which says anyone with an acute respiratory infection for which
there is no underlying cause should have a sample collected to know whether
they have this disease or not.
“So, we expect every
state to submit a certain number of samples for testing every day. We have seen
that some states have not submitted a single sample.”
He said the NCDC is
doing an analysis on the number of samples it has received from some states
which the centre will share with all the governors.
“We are going to
send it back to them for them to look at their data and be honest with their
people that there are no cases in their states,” Ihekweazu added.
Data from the NCDC
shows it has conducted 9,522 tests as of Wednesday, but this is far below the
capacity of many African countries.
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