NCDC slams states for bringing insufficient COVID-19 samples as Nigeria confirms 681 new cases, 5 deaths
Anthony Iwuoma
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), on Thursday, accused many states of failure to bring in enough samples for COVID-19 testing.
This is coming even as the country confirmed 681 new cases and recordinging five new deaths.
According to the Director-General of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, though the country now has the capacity to carry out 10,000 daily tests, the network of laboratories can only operate at 10 to 20 per cent of their capacity, as barely 2,000 or less are tested daily, a situation he blamed on the states not bringing in enough samples for testing.
Speaking at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, in Abuja, Ihekweazu said, “We are pushing hard and we are around 2,000 tests per day and sometimes a little bit less. Over the last two days, we have activated new labs in Ibadan, Akwa Ibom and Jigawa states. In Ondo State, the Lassa fever lab is being converted right now. There is a lot of work going on.
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“However, the collection of samples really happens in the states. Right now, our labs are working between 10 to 20 percent of capacity; we have the capacity to test a lot more – about 10,000 samples a day and probably more if we are pushed hard.
“We will continue to push testing capacity until every state is able to test in their state. We are challenging the states leading the contact tracing and case identification to bring in the samples so that we can collectively know how close we are to the peak.
“The laboratories are there but the samples are not coming in as sufficiently as we want. We want every state to push harder. The only way we can know that we are on top of this is really by testing, and we are ready to do that.
“Gene Xpert locations will start functioning from the 14th of June 2020. We have been working over the past two weeks to distribute the cartridges to the first seven centres, to train them and make sure that they are ready.
“As we have eased the restrictions that we instituted across the country, we expected the number to increase and we have announced this severally to expect an increase in numbers.
“So, this increase in numbers is not unusual, and as we increase testing and ease the lockdown, therefore, it is most likely that we will see an increase in numbers. Whether that increase continues or not depends on our collective action. Sometimes these numbers are necessary to remind us of that reality.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria on Thursday confirmed 681 new infections, its highest daily figure of confirmed COVID-19 cases so far.
This brings the total tally of infected people in the country to 14, 554 from 13, 873 previously reported on Wednesday evening.
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Also, five deaths were confirmed as resulting from the virus on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths from the virus to 387.
The health agency in a tweet Thursday night said the new cases 681 new cases are reported from 17 states : Lagos – 345, Rivers – 51, Ogun – 48, Gombe – 47, Oyo _36, Imo-31, Delta – 28, Kano – 23, Bauchi – 18, Edo – 12, Katsina – 12, Kaduna(9), Anambra – 7, Jigawa- 5 Kebbi – 4, Ondo – 4 and Nasarawa – 1.
The country has continued to record more infections and deaths in the last few days even though the number of recovered patients are also increasing daily.
The NCDC said: “Till date, 14,554 cases have been confirmed, 4,494 cases have been discharged and 387 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory.”
