By our reporter| Dr Osagie Ehanire, Nigeria’s minister of health on Wednesday revealed that over 2,000 persons have been tested so far for the COVID-19 disease in the country.
He further disclosed that government is making efforts to further expand and improve the diagnostic capacity across the board.
Ehanire made the disclosure at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He said, “This week, two more laboratories were added to the NCDC network of molecular laboratories for COVID-19 at University College Hospital Ibadan and Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.”
Nigeria has recorded 151 infections with Lagos and the FCT still having the highest numbers of 82 and 28 respectively as at April 1st, the minister noted.
According to him, a breakdown of the cases shows that about 70% of them are male while about 30% of them are female.
He continued, “The age range is mostly between 30 and 60 years but I must be quick to stress that both men and women of all ages can be infected.”
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Health is using the window of opportunity of the lockdown in the FCT, Lagos and Ogun, to accelerate activities to detect, isolate and treat cases.
“This is important because our ability to achieve the objectives in these states and the FCT will largely define our success in slowing the spread of the infection in our country,” he said.
A critical factor, however, will be the cooperation of members of the public and their adherence to the stay-at-home order especially in the areas under lockdown.
By so doing, “you would have contributed to the efforts to put this under control and return to our normal activities” the minister said.
Ehanire further explained that, as part of preparedness in the Abuja metropolis, there are “over 1000 bed spaces ready for isolation and treatment of mild to moderate cases.
“We have ICU units ready in Gwagwalada and national hospitals for those who may have complications especially those with underlying illnesses like tuberculosis, HIV, Cancer and also the elderly”.
He, therefore, advised Nigerians to protect the elder and other vulnerable groups of people in society.
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