Chikwe Ihekweazu, the director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has revealed that the numbers of COVID-19 positive cases in some states have started to drop.
The Nation reports that he said the agency received decreased cases of coronavirus in Lagos, Kano, FCT, Plateau, and Borno state.
He explained that the reason for the reduction in the positivity rate in those states was the result of consistently testing high numbers of persons.
Ihekweazu made this known during a TV interview in Abuja.
He said:-
“It is only through testing the numbers of people that may have the infection that we can actually understand how widespread that infection is.“The state that gives us the biggest indicator of where we are, is the data out of Lagos state. Lagos has consistently made the effort to test as many people as possible. They have been responsible for 50% of the cases initially, which is now down to about 30% in the country.“What we have seen in Lagos is that they have consistently tested high numbers and we have seen a reduction in the positivity rate – from close to 30 percent at a time, that is, one in every 10 people tested were positive for COVID-19, to about 10 percent or less in the last few weeks.“What does that tell us? Fewer people are turning out positive among those tested in areas that are testing sufficiently. We can say that with confidence in Kano, FCT, Plateau, and Borno. States where they are really testing sufficient numbers, we can come to some conclusions of where they are. In States that are not testing enough, it is very difficult to analyse and interpret their results with confidence.”
He said 70% of Nigerians access their health care in the private sector, adding that people were not coming forward in sufficient numbers to get tested for all sorts of reasons.
“We are working very hard to bring the sample collection centres closer to the patients. We are working with secondary and tertiary facilities across the country so that anyone that comes into a hospital can have their test done if they need to.“In terms of the vaccine, there are global efforts happening. We are participating in it but not playing the big role that we think we should be playing as a country. And that comes to some underlying investments that we have to make in terms of encouraging more people to go into science,” he said.
