The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, says the country is starting to struggle to keep up with demands for isolation beds to treat coronavirus patients.
While speaking during a media briefing on Thursday, April 30, 2020, Ihekweazu said Nigeria has only 3,500-bed spaces in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja available for COVID-19 patients.
He said he’s worried about the situation in Kano and the FCT, but most especially about Lagos which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria with 931 cases recorded, 53.9% of the country’s total of 1,728 cases.
He said,
“So, we’re going to work with them (Lagos) to keep trying to make more spaces available.“Ultimately, we might have to change our strategy a little bit and start considering home care in certain circumstances where a patient can be managed sufficiently.“We’re struggling at the moment. We might have to adapt our strategy because of the realities we face over the next few days.”
Nigeria has recorded coronavirus cases in 34 states and the FCT, as of April 29. Only Cross River and Kogi are yet to record any cases.
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