Olalekan Adetayo, Friday Olokor, Adelani Adepegba, Ade Adesomoju and Dayo Ojerinde The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, on Monday said the South-East g
eopolitical region was not conducting enough COVID-19 tests.
Ihekweazu was responding to a question on Abia State, which recorded 67 COVID-19 cases on Sunday bringing the total figure to 85. He said, “We were in a way surprised and not too surprised because we know that the testing numbers in the South-East have been low and this has been an advocacy point for me.“We have reached out to all the states in the South-East. We know the people in the South-East travel a lot and there is no reason why there won’t be more cases there given the tendency to travel.”
“Yes, we have seen the number of cases being reported from Abia; I think that’s a good thing because the more you identify the number of cases, you are then able to institute and prioritise the measures you need to prevent further cases.The NCDC director said he observed a renewed vigour in the Abia State health workers during a virtual meeting with state epidemiologists last week.
Reacting to allegations of financial impropriety levelled against the NCDC, Ihekweazu said that the centre would account for the money it spent.The PTF chairman said over 80,000 tests have been conducted in the country, adding that 13,000 health workers had been trained, increasing the human resources available for case management.According to him, the number of beds available for isolation and case management has increased from 3000 beds to 5000 beds nationwide.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported on Monday that states such as Lagos and Kano were facing the problem of a shortage of bed-spaces “If you have many cases turning up, you have your isolation and treatment centres full, then, you start considering other options.“Before home management, we have other improvised measures that are being introduced by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to use dormitories and other available empty buildings.
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