The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has said that Chinese doctors, nurses and medical experts would soon arrive in Nigeria to assist in the fight against COVID-19.
At a press briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja yesterday, the minister said Coronavirus cases in Nigeria have reached 210. “The global number has crossed one million mark, barely three months after the first cases were first reported in Wuhan, China. It is an indication that it is a public health challenge that we must not take lightly,” he said.
He added: “We are already seeing what may be the indication of community transmission, in that 30 per cent of the cases have incomplete epidemiological information. 51 per cent are imported cases and 19 per cent are through contacts of known cases.
“Directors of the Federal Ministry of Health had discussions with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria to explore the potential for local production of medical consumables such as face masks, gloves, sanitisers and even ventilators.
“This is in view of looming global shortages of medical supplies for the response due to high demands from all countries. Clinical trials and other processes are ongoing to validate various therapeutic for COVID-19 treatment.”
The minister said he had been notified of medical supplies from China courtesy of a group of Chinese companies working in Nigeria. “A special cargo aircraft shall leave Nigeria in a few days to collect the items which include Personal Protective Equipment and ventilators,” he said, adding “Of great interest is that an 18-man team of medical experts from China, including doctors, nurses and medical experts shall come along with the flight to assist us.”
Ehanire who said more cases might be detected during the remaining days of the lockdown window, called on officials to speed up their work. “We are using the small window of opportunity remaining to intensify investigation to identify cases and sources. This is one of the purposes of the lockdown of the two states (Lagos and Ogun) and the FCT,” he said.
“Lagos and other parts will need to speed up their activities to detect and isolate COVID-19 patients.
“We expect to see an increase in cases during the lockdown as a measure of improvement in case finding. If all measures and social distancing are followed, the incidence of positive cases can be controlled.”
Also at the briefing, Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, lamented paucity of finance, infrastructure and human resources. “We are not just limited by funds and infrastructure, but the biggest limitation is human resources; the people that are already trained in bio-nuclear diagnostic testing. This is not something you can take up people and ask them to volunteer and go into the laboratory and start testing,” he said.
“Today, we have tested about 4,000 people and we will continue to drive up this number. We have fulfilled every requirement for a test so there is nobody that has come forward (without being tested). There has been some delay but every single sample that has come forward has been tested.
“Currently, we have added one more laboratory. We now have eight testing laboratories. We have three laboratories working independently in Lagos; the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigerian Institute for Medical Research and the Biosecurity Centre in Lagos that used to work with LUTH. It has been completely separated.
“Ibadan and Abakaliki test centres have been activated already. Today (Friday), we are activating the second laboratory in Abuja to support everyone around the area. The next town is Kano; between Sunday and Monday, it will be activated for the northern part of Nigeria.”