The presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 says the drop
in sample collection nationwide is responsible for the dwindling cases of the
disease recorded in the country.
Nigeria has recorded low COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.
But speaking at the PTF briefing on Monday, Osagie Ehanire,
minister of health, said the fall in COVID-19 cases does not imply that the
virus’ curve is flattened.
“We are beginning to see a situation where the number of
those treated and discharged exceeds the number of positive cases detected. While
these figures may seem reassuring, they may be deceptive, and we cannot assume
that the curve is flattening, since we are yet to perfect due diligence on our
side,” Ehanire said.
“Our target is to test two million Nigerians for COVID-19
and to scale up to four million persons of which we have achieved barely a
quarter.”
Elsie Ilori, head of disease surveillance at the Nigeria
Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), said no state in the country collected more
than 1,000 samples for testing in August.
Ilori, who represented Chikwe Ihekweazu, NCDC
director-general, said 32 of the 36 states recorded reduced sample collection,
while 478 out of 774 local government areas also witnessed a drop in sample
collection.
According to her, none of the 21 local government areas in
Kogi state collected samples for testing in August while only one council
collected samples in July.
“In July, there were seven states with decreased samples
collected, but unfortunately, in August, it increased to 32 states with
decreased samples collection,” Ilori said.
“In July, we had 13 states that actually collected over
1,000 samples. For August, no state met that target. That means we had zero
states collecting over 1,000 samples.
“For the local government areas, in July we had 515 that
collected samples and it decreased to 478 in August. We can appreciate the
decrease in August.
“In August, states
with the biggest increase are Abia (682), Sokoto (331), Bayelsa (314), Zamfara
(55) and Yobe (12), but the numbers are not significant at all.
“In the same month, the biggest decrease in sample
collection are Kano (19,108), Lagos (13,146), Oyo (4,902), Edo (3,327), and FCT
(3,322). August sample collection has decreased drastically.
“Concerning where samples are being collected, in July, in
Benue, Ebonyi, FCT, Lagos, Plateau, all the LGA in these states had samples
collected, while only in Delta, Edo and Ogun, only one local government area
did not collect samples.
“Concerning local government areas that did not collect
samples, in July, Kogi had 19 out of 20 local government areas without samples
collected. Also in August, no local government in Kogi collected samples. In
Katsina, only 24 local government areas collected samples – Jigawa (22), Kano
(20), Taraba (16).
“Even though in Lagos
all the local government areas are collecting samples, the number of samples
collected was quite low. So, that brought down the number of samples collected
for August.”
Boss Mustapha, COVID-19 PTF chairman, called for caution in
view of the falling COVID-19 cases.
“The PTF still urges caution and vigilance on the declining
numbers because the virus is still potent and very dangerous,” Mustapha said.
He also warned against the hurried reopening of schools in
some states.
“Whilst the PTF does
not discourage making such preparations, we need to be guided by experiences
from countries such as Germany, France, the United States and the UK where
opening of schools in some cities led to an increase in confirmed cases and
fatalities,” he said.
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