The number of COVID-19 cases that has been reported in Nigeria is deceptive as the country’s low testing capacity has left many infected persons untested, according to Okey Ikechuckwu, executive director, (ED) Development Specs Academy.
The director, therefore, advocated the need for Nigeria to improve on communication to the general public in order for them to take precaution against the deadly virus.
“The truth of the matter is that the record creates a deceptive impression of low infection rate. We are not testing enough people, they said they will take about 2500 test in three months,” Ikechukwu said on the Sunrise Daily, adding that there is not only a high possibility of lockdown extension, “it may turn out to become mandatory” because Nigeria does not have the correct record of infected persons.
After five weeks of a complete lockdown of economic activities in order to curtail the spread of the virus, President Buhari announced a gradual easing of the lockdown which commenced Monday 4th, in order to tame the effect of the pandemic on the economy which analysts have projected would contract by as much as 3.4 percent in 2020.
According to data by NCDC, the number of confirmed cases in Africa’s most populous nation as at May 6 stood at 3,145 with 532 recoveries and 103 deaths. The latest figure indicates 195 new cases with the top three tallies from Lagos, Kano and Zamfara with 82, 30 and 19 cases, respectively.
The outcome on the recent ease of the lockdown in some Nigerian cities would determine whether or not to enact a stricter measure on compliance level, according to Sani Aliyu, the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19, who is expecting to see the impact to manifest in 10-14 days’ time.
“We are monitoring closely the decision of the lockdown and the outcome we get in 10-14 days’ time will determine our recommendation to the president on whether or not stricter measures should be applied,” Sanni said.
Responding to the ease in the lockdown, Ikechuckwu said: “The point to put on the table is that the easing of the lockdown should not be mistaken for an easing of the rate of infection or the continued activity of the virus itself; it would be a mistake to assume that.” He cited Ghana as an example of a country that has reported more cases after easing its lockdown.
“You saw what happened in Ghana; they eased the lockdown and the infection increased, the fear and possibility of such happening in Nigeria are real and is already manifesting in some few places,” the executive director said, citing a man that alleged collapsed in one of the banks in Lagos due to infection.
Meanwhile, after the ease of lockdown in Ghana, the West African country reported an increase in confirmed cases by 1,937. The country which has almost the same population size as Lagos, Nigeria’s business hub had 1,154 cases before the lockdown but as at Thursday, it climbed to 3,091, a little behind Nigeria’s 3,145.
According to Patrick Aboagye, head of the Ghana Health Service, the country has a 0.66 percent mortality rate and a 2.1percent infection rate based on the 130,000 tested samples done so far, ahead of Nigeria’s about 15,000 tests.
“We’ve done well because of our rigorous contact tracing, enhanced testing, and mandatory quarantine, measures which many advanced countries were unable to take,” Aboagye is quoted to have said.
On the way to go in curtailing the spread of the deadly virus in Nigeria amid ease in lockdown, Ikechuwku recommended sensitization and communication.
“I think the only way to curtail it now is actual activation of genuine sanitization, let all the big men and women who are holding public office, who are now hiding in their houses know that they were put in place to serve the people. Let communication extend up to that level; by the time people are told the implications, the number of those who would deliberately misbehave would reduce,” he said.
