The presidency yesterday released a “chronicle of some of the reactions by the agencies and trained experts under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari” as the coronavirus continues to spread in the country. Signed by Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity) Femi Adesina, the 50-point list aimed to validate the president’s position during a nationwide broadcast last Sunday, wherein Buhari stated: “In Nigeria’s fight against COVID-19, there is no such thing as an overreaction or under-reaction. It is all about the right reaction by the right agencies and trained experts.”
Despite patting themselves on the back about their efforts to combat the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Thursday said 10 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the country. Seven of the 10 cases were recorded in Lagos, which has been the hardest hit in Nigeria so far. The other three cases were recorded in Abuja. “As at 08:00 pm 2nd April there are 184 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria,” NCDC said.
This brings the total number of confirmed case to 184. Of the 184 cases, 162 are currently being managed, 20 have been discharged while two have died. A breakdown of the figures show that Lagos currently has 98 cases, FCT 38, Osun 14, Oyo eight, Akwa Ibom five, Ogun, Edo and Kaduna four each, Bauchi three, Enugu and Ekiti have two each, while Rivers and Benue have one each.
This came as Health Minister; Dr. Osagie Ehanire disclosed that the federal government is using the window presented by the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun States to detect, isolate and treat cases, considering that the incubation period of the virus is two to 12 days.
At a media briefing in Abuja, Ehanire said two new laboratories had been added to the NCDC’s network of molecular laboratories for COVID-19 at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State and the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. He noted that with the addition, the country had increased its daily testing capacity from 500 to 1,000.
Earlier, Boss Mustapha, Chairman of the Presidential Task (PTF) Force on COVID-19, said the PTF had developed the Implementation Guide and Protocol for the COVID-19 Lockdown Policy. “This document will be widely circulated to all security agencies and will be discussed with sub-national entities for the purpose of building synergy in the fight against the virus,” he said.
Meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 might have been under-reported because of inadequate testing capacity.
At the briefing, NCDC Director General Chikwe Ihekweazu said about 2,000 of a cumulative total of 6,655 persons of interest had been tested. An analysis of these figures shows that only about 30.05% of Nigerians exposed to the virus and possibly positive have been tested. It is estimated that if all the 6,655 exposed persons were tested, at least 10 per cent of them (665) would be positive.
Investigations by Huhuonline.com revealed that the cost of testing one person, with the method currently used by NCDC, is over N10,000. Also, the centres do not have enough reagents, equipment and laboratories for attending to so many people at the same time. Besides, it takes 24 to 48 hours to get results. While a rapid test kit might produce results within minutes, the outcome is however unreliable.
In a related development, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) called for care to minimise the potential impacts of COVID-19 containment on food supply, global trade and food security.
The world bodies said this yesterday in a statement jointly signed by Directors General QU Dongyu (FAO), Tedros Ghebreyesus(WHO) and Roberto Azevedo (WTO). Governments should ensure that responses to COVID-19 do not unintentionally create unwarranted shortages of essential items and exacerbate hunger and malnutrition, they said.
“Millions of people around the world depend on international trade for their food security and livelihoods. Disruptions including hampering movement of agricultural and food industry workers and extending border delays for food containers, result in the spoilage of perishables and increasing food waste.
“Such reactions can alter the balance between food supply and demand, resulting in price spikes and increased price volatility. We learned from previous crises that such measures are particularly damaging for low-income, food-deficit countries and to the efforts of humanitarian organisations to procure food for those in desperate need. We must prevent the repeat of such damaging measures. It is at times like this that more, not less, international cooperation becomes vital,” they said.
