100 DAYS AFTER INDEX CASE: FG TARGETS MOLECULAR LABS IN 36 STATES, FCT

of the Federation (SGF), led the team to the laboratory being managed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

He said the country now has the capacity of 30 testing centres as against the three that were in existence, when it first recorded the index case on February 27 this year.

“Before now, Nigeria only had about three testing laboratories nationwide for testing of infectious diseases. Now, 100 days of COVID-19 in Nigeria, the country can now boast of having 30 testing centres,” he said.

He reiterated government’s plans to increase the country's national response such that all the 36 states of the federation would have a molecular laboratory and the FCT.

“The government is targeting having at least one standard infectious disease laboratory in each of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT,” he said.

Director General of NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, while speaking, noted that in the coming months, the Centre would continue to work with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Medical Laboratory and Science Council of Nigeria and other partners to carry out laboratory related research and validation, as Nigeria scales up her testing capacity.

According to him, the national reference laboratory was the apex public health reference laboratory in the country, which has the mandate to coordinate the diagnosis of diseases of public health importance.

“Since the first confirmed case was reported 100 days ago, (yesterday) several health workers have been at the forefront. We remain grateful to state task forces, emergency operations centres, rapid response teams, laboratory scientists and all health workers, who continue to work very hard for national health security.

“Our strategy is to ensure more people are tested, contacts are traced early to prevent further spread and confirmed cases are treated. In the absence of a vaccine, Nigeria and the rest of the world must depend on public health, social measures and supportive management of confirmed cases," he said.

Meanwhile, confirming 389 new cases of Covid-19, the NCDC puts the breakdown thus:

Lagos – 66; FCT – 50; Delta – 32; Oyo – 31; Borno – 26; Rivers – 24; Edo – 23; Ebonyi – 23; Anambra – 17; Gombe – 17; Nasarawa – 14; Imo – 12; Kano – 12; Sokoto – 12; Jigawa – 8; Ogun – 7; Bauchi – 5; Kebbi – 2; Kaduna – 2; Ondo – 2; Abia – 1 and Niger – 1.

The NCDC however put the national tally at 12,233, while discharges are 3826 and deaths, 342.

Inter-states Travel Ban Crippling Hotels, Other Businesses, Proprietors Cry Out

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

Hotels proprietors in the country under the aegis of Nigeria Hotels Association have decried the continuous inter states travel ban imposed by the federal government to contain the spread of coronavirus, saying it has crippled their hotels and other businesses.

National president of the association, Eze Patrick Anyanwu, while addressing journalists at a press conference held at Zaranda Hotel, Bauchi, yesterday said, they had recorded huge losses since the imposition of the travel ban.

He noted that 95 per cent of their customers were travellers, who come from other states, lamenting also that many hotels had resorted to borrowing money from banks for the maintenance of the facilities and staff salaries.

Anyanwu, who stated that hotels contribute immensely to national development especially, through provision of jobs to numerous citizens, urged the federal government to include them among the beneficiaries of the Covid-19 palliatives to save their businesses from collapse.

"Above all, the request of our financial palliative through the umbrella of Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) as a special intervention is hereby being stressed again.

"I want to use this opportunity to inform the federal government that the hospitality industry is very important in this country. We are the ones accommodating your visitors coming into the country from all over the world. We are contributing immensely to the economy of this country.”

According to the hotel proprietors, if markets and places of worship, which could gather people could be opened, the federal government should also lift inter states ban, assuring government that the hotels would comply with the Covid-19 safety protocols.

NCDC, PTF Misinforming Nigerians on COVID-19 Protocols, Says Civil Society Group

George Okoh in Makurdi

The Conference of Harmonised Civil Society Organisation in Nigeria (CHCSON) has called to question, the role of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) in the fight against the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic, saying they’ve been misinforming the people.

The coalition, at a press briefing in Makurdi, yesterday, accused the two bodies of acting above board and wondering if they had achieved anything in the fight against the disease.

According to the Team Leader, Mr. Solomon Semeka, the NCDC and PTF have been misinforming the masses and the governments at all level on the pandemic

"The immediate reaction of many Nigerians to the NCDC's midnight nightmare of increasing cases is that the agency now has a panic button it uses to scare the citizens and governments of Nigeria, and simply for selfish gains. If not, why then is the Covid-19 pandemic and its ancillaries the sole preoccupation of the NCDC and other public health bodies for now?"

The group, however, asked if it was because it’s currently the only disease that gives access to large sums of money from the public purse and the private sector.

"This country is plagued by many other endemic diseases like Lassa fever, malaria, meningitis etc which kill more than the Covid-19. We have had over 655 deaths from Lassa fever alone in the last few months in Nigeria.

“Malaria remains the highest killer of children in the world. Why are they ignored with mounting death tolls while Covid-19 is given all the attention? Is death by Covid-19 now some kind of elite death, more celebrated?"