NCDC CEO Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu PHOTO: Twitter
We’ve learned a lot from our reaction over the more than seven months and we’re not where we were in February when the first case was recorded. We have more labs to temporarily monitor people, many states have expanded their case control capacity and provided home care, and we have a strong formula for tracking and locating contacts. All of this will make a difference in the occasion of extra drastic accumulation in cases where we reopen schools, foreign flights and other activities.
Above all, each and every Nigerian will have to take responsibility. There is evidence that measures such as washing hands, physical estrangement, dressing in masks and others we have brought can lessen the threat of infection.
The NCDC has worked with the Federal Department of Education, the Presidential Task Force (TFP) on COVID-19, and other applicable establishments to expand the rules for the reopening of schools, businesses, foreign flights, and others.
We have greater testing capacity and now we have laboratories in all two states, Niger and Kebbi, but we are working with them to activate the tests before the end of this month.
It is too early to draw conclusions about the decrease in the number of new cases shown. Right now, we’re working with all states to build calls and verify. We will continue to verify more people and respond accordingly.
The state government also approved the inclusion of seven personal sector laboratories for testing. In addition, we have been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to help the state identify pattern collection centers on precedence councils to allow for greater call and access to testing, which has helped us accentuate testing in the state.
In addition, the state has promoted public and social fitness measures, adding the application of the use of masks, the closure of giant meetings, etc. An NCDC Rapid Response Team has been supporting the State Department of Health since the start of the response. .
Most likely, the epicenter of the epidemic will move to another state, but we will continue our reaction efforts in Lagos so as not to lose the achievements we have achieved so far.
Nigeria is working with Africa-CDC to plan the implementation of an antibody study, which means that antibody tests will be performed to estimate the number of others who may have had the virus but were asymptomatic and not tested. or treatment This will be done as a component of a study study, which means that a target organization will be tested.
It should be noted that antibody controls will not be used primarily for public aptitude diagnosis until we have validated control for this purpose. Without this, we cannot draw any conclusions about the degree of immunity opposed to COVID-19 in Nigeria.
The effects of these clinical trials and other clinical processes will determine whether they will be used as a component of COVID-19 remedy modalities in Nigeria.
We work heavily with our WHO partners, the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) and GAVI, through the COVAX design that has been put in position to enable countries to vacuse fairly.
GAVI (officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance) is a global public-private fitness association aimed at gaining better access to immunization in poor countries. COVAX is one of 3 pillars of the COVID-19 Tool Access Accelerator (ACT), which was introduced in April through WHO.
We are also tracking vaccine studies and progression around the world to make sure Nigeria doesn’t fall behind. More importantly, we generate and make a contribution to clinical evidence that will allow the progression of vaccines, such as genetic sequencing. expanding vaccines in Nigeria is a deficit that has become very evident to us and we are determined to do anything about it, to move forward.
We have continued to record cases and deaths from Lassa fever, however, this figure is minimal than the epidemic level. We are in a better position to handle Lassa fever cases because we have noticed a decrease in the number of other people who have died as a result of these diseases in the last 3 years.
Despite this, we continue to work with our colleagues in the States to ensure that prevention, detection and reaction to other diseases continues, despite the COVID-19 epidemic.
At first, we presented a communication crusade called “Taking Responsibility” in Nigeria. We continue to take advantage of the merits of social media, classic media and other tactics for sharing smart data with Nigerians. telecom operators that have allowed us to send SMS messages to all Nigerians every week since May, with adequate data.
We’ve also established strong partnerships with TV houses, radio stations, newspapers, and others for percentage of data and evolved cutting-edge methods, such as cartooning and translating our messages into local languages for the right percentage of data.
We continue to urge all Nigerians to share unverified data. We have an active online page where you can check all the data you want about COVID-19: www. covid19. ncdc. gov. ng
At the beginning of the pandemic, transitority structures were placed for overflow of primary care facilities, some of which are not being used due to the small number of new cases shown.
However, we plead with all states that have the minimum capacity to manage instances and opportunities for immediate instance construction.
There will be an increase in cases for a variety of reasons: as the virus spreads when other people are in contact with others, the resumption of travel abroad, the reopening of schools, churches and social gatherings are likely to contribute to a build-up in cases.
That is why we have developed rules for the safe reopening of sectors, and it is very vital that they are respected to reduce the threat of spikes in cases.
In Nigeria, we also obtained strong political and multisectoral reaction coordination through the Presidential Working Group (FTP) on COVID-19, led through the Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF).
While we are proud of the efforts made to maintain the decline in numbers in Nigeria, compared to the maximum number of countries in the south of the world, we have not yet reached conclusions, as we will continue our responsiveness.
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