By Modupe Gbadeyanka
About 3,000 people have been tested in Nigeria for coronavirus disease since it’s the first case was reported in the country on February 27, 2020. Out of these samples, 209 have tested positive for the virus.
This disclosure was made by the Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehanire, during a Presidential Task Force Press Briefing held in Abuja on Friday.
The Minister stated that 30 percent of the cases may be indications of sustained community transmission that have incomplete epidemiological information, while 51 percent are imported cases and 19 are contacts of known cases.
“We have tested 3,000 samples so far in Nigeria, and working hard to scale up our capacity in a targeted approach,” Mr Ehanire was quoted as saying in a press statement issued by his ministry yesterday.
The Minister reiterated that the purposes for which the President locked down two states and the FCT was to ensure that incidence of positive cases could be controlled, while intensified investigations by speeding up activities to identify and isolate COVID-19 patients in these areas.
Due to looming global shortages of medical supplies for response and the high demand by all countries, Mr Ehanire revealed that Directors of the Federal Ministry of Health had discussed with the Federal Ministry of industry, Trade and Investments and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria to explore potentials for local production of medical consumables, such as face mask, gloves, sanitizers and ventilators.
He applauded the Chinese government for the gifts of medical supplies from China courtesy of a group of Chinese Companies working here in Nigeria.
He also praised the health workers who he said are doing a great job in case identification and management while reminding them also that routine healthcare services must continue in all hospitals,
“It is important that we do not drop but continue to provide routine health services, including maternal and child health and immunization,” adding that only a wing of tertiary centres need to be put to use for infected patients control.
The Minister also used the occasion to disclose that a Coronavirus Treatment Centre Accreditation Committee was inaugurated on Thursday by the Minister of State for Health, Mr Olorunnimbe Mamora, and had begun an accreditation checklist, as well as a protocol for management of isolation centres.
He added that a list of trained health care workers had been complied to man these centres as they become operational.
