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Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, hss said no state in the country was coronavirus-free.
He argued that “we live it in a context where viruses spread, and can only start talking about any state or community being disease-free when we have an effective tool to fight that disease, and that is when we have a vaccine.”
This comes as the Presidential Taskforce (PTF) on COVID-19 stated that the declaration of Nigeria as polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that the most populous black nation could overcome the novel coronavirus and other infectious ailments.
Speaking during the daily briefing in Abuja, Ihekweazu insisted that “we cannot isolate ourselves from the rest of the country,” stressing that “even New Zealand that is an island started having new cases after a period of not having any.”
He asserted: “Right now, no state is COVID-19 free. That is why we have to keep testing people. That is why prevention is better than cure. If you cannot prevent, you detect. That is why we need to scale up our lab testing.”
Ihekweazu noted that the PTF team, made up of NCDC and the WHO representative, visited Plateau, Edo, Lagos and Akwa Ibom to assess their preparedness and control, adding that they had worked very hard to help every state grow its capacity.
He deplored the flagrant disobedience to the COVID-19 protocols by Nigerians.
Coordinator of the PTF, Dr. Sani Aliyu, reiterated the restriction on inter-state travels.
Lamenting that the people were not taking the pandemic serious enough, he added that the community transmission of the sickness was on the rise.
Aliyu then canvassed increased testing in the states, stating: “There is no shame in having positive results in your state. It is much better to know the level of COVID-19 infection in your state, as denial will only make the issue more difficult and will put both the citizens and health workers at risk.”
