(Abuja)
Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC,says that the remaining states in Nigeria that have not recorded COVID-19 cases cannot hide it.
Duaglobalnews reports that only four states at the moment have not reported a case in Nigeria, they are:Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa and Yobe.
According to the Director-Genersl of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, eventually, it will emerge, adding that before that, it is better to understand what is happening early than leave it til we start hearing stories of death.
Iheakwazu also urged the states concerned to collect more samples from people who met the case definition for testing,reminding them on the need not to play with figures.
“We are looking at the number of samples collected from these states. We are not satisfied with the number of samples collected.
“We need to test more, but to test more, we need to collect more and that collection part is the responsibility of states and their Public Health teams.
“We want to really encourage every state in Nigeria, you cannot hide this. Eventually,
it will emerge.
“It is better we understand what is happening early than leave it till we start hearing stories of death.
“So, we are really encouraging the Public Health Teams in these states to push out their people that have Pneumonia, acute respiratory infections and others.
” There is absolutely no doubt about this. Please, collect samples and send them to us, let us test and know whether you have this thing circulating in your states and mount an appropriate response.
” If it is not there, it is not there, but we cannot know if we do not test”, he stressed.
The online publication reports that the number of people that have contracted the five months old Coronavirus,with origin from Wuhan, China is 3 million globally, out of which Nigeria has 1,237 cases with 40 deaths as at April 27.