The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has warned that the COVID-19 transmission would rise with the reopening of schools and airports.
The Director-General, NCDC, Dr Chike Ihekweazu, while speaking on Monday during a media briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, warned against complacency and the belief that infection rates were declining.
He said only Lagos, Federal Capital Territory, Ogun and Kano states had been consistently carrying out a high volume of testing.
Ihekweazu noted that there is a sharp decline in testing rates in Taraba, Adamawa, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Kebbi, Zamfara, Jigawa and Yobe states.
He added, “I am very confident about what is going on in Lagos, FCT, Ogun and probably Kano and a few other states. Having said that, it doesn’t mean they should let down their guards completely”.
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“In fact, with schools and airports opening, we have to increase the level of our testing because inevitably, there would be more transmission. So, how are you able to mitigate the impact of that moving forward, given that we have learnt so much about this virus in the last few months.”
The DG further observed that Nigerians were not responding to the plea to come out for testing, adding that the testing needed to be sustained in order to combat the pandemic.
On his part, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, warned that the appreciable progress recorded might be eroded, especially due to the opening of the airspaces to international travels, relaxation of a number of restrictions and opening up of more sectors of the economy.
The National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, also said, “The PTF remains seriously concerned about the current low testing rate we have in the country. Nigerians are not getting tested for COVID-19 but we must test to track, in order to slow the spread of the virus even further and to stop any more preventable COVID-related death.”
He explained that COVID-19 tests are free at 69 laboratories and centres across the country. According to him, a weekly assessment by the PTF had shown that more Nigerians have shown lack of interest in testing for the virus. He therefore encouraged Nigerians to not shy away from testing.