[ad_1]
On Wednesday February 24, 2021, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC as usual, released the figure of COVID-19 cases in the country.
The numbers, particularly the number of positive cases for Wednesday, set at 655, have followed a trend that has been constant for days; lower digits.
The NCDC continued to report lower numbers for the country, showing the rate of infections has dropped dramatically in the country and the nation may be winning the war against the deadly virus.
As encouraging as it may be, especially after the country peaked at 1,600 and as other countries produce daily figures in the thousands, experts are starting to question the authenticity of the figures, claiming that all clues on the ground, in terms of the policies and actions of government and society indicate otherwise.
Several experts who spoke to DAILY POST are of the opinion that the nation has done nothing to deserve the lower numbers it gets, and that there are also no political initiatives to back it up.
A recent survey report in the country paints a totally different picture.
According to the report of a COVID-19 antibody investigation in Nigeria, around four million residents of Lagos state alone have had the virus, a number even higher than that of the entire African continent.
The seroprevalence survey conducted by the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and Institute for Medical Research (IMR) suggests that the figures released by the country may not be accurate after all.
It also shows that for every five people tested in Lagos, Enugu and Nasarawa states, one was positive, while for Gombe state, the report places it at one in ten people tested.
NCDC Director General Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said the investigation shows that around 186 million Nigerians are at risk of contracting the deadly virus.
“Ninety to ninety percent of the population in these four states are still susceptible to the virus, which makes the vaccination efforts we are about to start in Nigeria even more important,” said Ihekweazu .
Small numbers
Numbers released daily by the NCDC, which led the survey and published the report, remained low, although one in five people in Lagos and three other states test positive.
Official NCDC data puts the number of tests done so far since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria at 1,489,103, while confirmed cases stand at 153,842 as of February 24, 2021.
Active cases on the same date stood at 21,116 after discharge of 130,818 and deaths from viral infection at 1,885.
A closer look at official NCDC figures shows that confirmed cases represent more than 10% of the number of tests done so far. This shows that the numbers the nation currently has are a function of the number of tests performed.
A doctor, who prefers to be identified only by his first name, Charles, paints a startling picture of the nature of the problems during a visit to one of the sample collection centers set up by the Lagos State government.
During DAILY POST’s visit to the center in the annex building of a local government secretariat on the mainland, Dr Charles cuts off the image of a man under immense pressure. As the leader of the center, along with a few other health workers, he confronts dozens of Nigerians on a daily basis who came for examination, who had to be turned away.
According to him, the procedure to be tested does not allow for mass testing that the government had pushed into the media overtime. “This is just propaganda,” he submitted.
“Before your samples can be taken at this center or any other for that matter, you must have been in contact with the NCDC and once they are satisfied that you are qualified for the test you will now be directed to them. test centers. But here, on a daily basis, I’m dealing with people who just come in to take a test without a recommendation from the NCDC. I’m sure you’ve witnessed some of the things that almost made you angry today; that’s what I had to face on a daily basis, ”he declared.
When asked what could be responsible for the low numbers recently, Dr Charles said you can’t get numbers dictated by the number of tests you’ve done.
“It’s a simple thing, the number of tests done will dictate the number of positive cases you get. The numbers are neither manufactured nor manipulated, it is a function of the tests carried out. Countries with a large number of positive cases have greater screening capacity. In fact, I marvel every time I hear people claim that the NCDC only assigns numbers every day and that COVID-19 is not as bad in Nigeria as it is painted. If Nigeria has the capacity to test 100,000 people a day, then maybe the true picture of the virus prevalence in Nigeria will be known, ”Charles said.
A public health expert from Lagos State University Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, Lagos believes that figures released daily by the NCDC do not accurately reflect the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. According to him, the numbers cannot be correct.
“How can the numbers be correct? Of course, it is not because we have people who are infected daily but who have not come to be tested. We also have those who tried to get tested but were unable to do so due to our clearly inadequate testing capacity and the unnecessary bureaucracy that has been built around it. Government testing centers are not drop-in centers where everyone can just go to get tested, which is contrary to what Nigerians are told.
“Again, how many ordinary Nigerians can afford the fees for licensed private laboratories? Here’s the problem. Until we are able to increase our testing capacity and make it not only available but easily accessible to all Nigerians, we may not know the real situation. As a person, I will even propose a mandatory testing policy for every Nigerian, ”he said.
On the possibility of winning the war against the virus, the public health expert said the nation was far from winning.
“We don’t win, we submit to the virus. Countries much more serious than us and which have policies in place to fight the pandemic have not made serious progress. So how can we hope to win when almost nothing is done. Nigerians continue to flout security protocols at will. Just go under the bridge in Ikeja and observe the level of compliance with the use of face masks. Check the buses or enter Computer Village to see if there is physical distancing of any kind. Nigerians do not take precautions seriously and the government seems tired of law enforcement. So we are where we are, where everyone is free to contract the virus and is free to infect others, in crowded markets, beers, churches and mosques, on crowded public transport and of course, at home.
Silent death
In Ilorin, Kwara State, a woman visited her sick brother. She returned to her destination, fell ill, and in less than three days passed away. Her brother she visited died less than 24 hours after his death, while a third brother also died after visiting his sister in hospital.
The abbreviated history above is known to many Nigerians, but there is no official confirmation of the siblings’ cause of death, but experts told DAILY POST that it was safe to classify them as Nigeria’s growing list of unexplained deaths from a global pandemic.
“It is common to hear reports of deaths that one is unable to fully explain. Although for every death nowadays there is still suspicion that it could be COVID-19, but because Nigeria, first of all does not have a mandatory autopsy policy to determine the cause death and because there is no mandatory death registration policy, as can be obtained in other countries, including some on the African continent, they remain mere suspicion and doubtful ”, declared a doctor at DAILY POST in Abuja.
“People die like they’re always dead, but the difference here is in the ‘unexplained circumstances’ (to the layman) in which they arise. Many of us are convinced that many more people have died in recent times, and this is linked to COVID-19. But we don’t have the statistics because Nigerians are reluctant to even go to hospitals. They are afraid that they will be told that what is wrong with them is COVID-19. For many, COVID-19 is some kind of stigmatized disease that people need to know about. This is all the more reason people die because they refused to seek help at the right time, ”said Dr Melford, medical director of an Ojodu Berger hospital in Lagos.
Speaking on the way forward, Dr Melford said the government needs to step up its public awareness commitments and also involve grassroots opinion leaders to make it much more effective.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Center for Disease Control, NCDC, has confirmed 655 new cases of COVID-19 in 20 states and in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The total number of confirmed cases across the country now stands at 153,842.
[ad_2]
Source link
