The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has insisted the country is not yet flattening the COVID-19 curve, despite the recent decrease in number of daily infections.
The disease control agency explained that the recent drop in the number of daily infections is because testing dropped by 36% in August.
This week so far, the number of daily Covid-19 cases fell below 100 twice and other daily infections did not exceed 200.
Minister of state for health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, speaking during the PTF briefing had, however, noted that the number of samples tested has increased.
He said despite this, the decline in cases has continued.
But, Chinwe Ochu, head of Prevention Programmes and Knowledge Management Department at the NCDC, informed that testing dropped by 36% due to decline in sample collection in August.
Ochu insited that Nigeria is not yet flattening the curve.
According to her, for you to declare a flattening of the curve, there has to be increasd number of testing with detection of fewer cases.
“But as it is, we have witnessed a progressive decline in the testing rates across various states as a result of lower sample collection rate. In the month of August, we discovered that testing rate declined by 36 percent while test positivity has declined by 25 percent,” she said on the official NCDC Twitter handle.
“So, for us to be sure that what we have is actual flattening of the curve or actual decline in the number of cases and not a pseudo decline, we need to test at least as many people as we have tested before and maintain that tempo of testing or even improve in our testing capacity on a daily basis, and then show that steady decline in the number of cases before we can really say we are flattering the curve.
“So, as it is currently, covid-19 is still very much with us in the country,” she said.
Ochu noted that the response to the outbreak is a marathon that can be won through collective effort.
She therefore urged Nigerians to continue observing all preventive measures.
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