COVID-19 pandemic far from over – FG

The Federal Government has emphasised that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from being over in the country.

National Coordinator, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, at a briefing of the committee in Abuja on Wednesday, said the country’s chances of coming out of the crisis “sooner than later depends on citizens’ absolute compliance to the eased lockdown guidelines.”

“We must do everything to prevent another spike and spread of the virus during the eased lockdown,” he warned.

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‘80% of patients don’t require hospital admission’

He said about 80 percent of COVID-19 patients, especially those that are asymptomatic; do not require hospital admission and administering of ventilators.

According to him, it is advisable not to keep asymptomatic patients of COVID-19 at isolation centres, and that such persons, who account for about 80 percent of those infected are better treated with more comfortable places like hotels.

He noted that it is better to keep those with little or no symptoms away from hospitals and regular isolation centres because they would not need serious treatment or monitoring.

He said this would make the available spaces more adequate for those with serious symptoms and would come cheaper for state governments to manage.

“As you can see the number of deaths in Europe and other places, due to be administered with ventilators, most cases do not require ventilators, which rather worsened the symptoms for those who did not need it.

“In terms of case management, we’ll like to again appeal to state governments, particularly those yet to ensure the provision of isolation facilities, to please make sure that they have at least 300 beds available per state so that they can isolate persons that are positive with COVID-19 infection.

“It is particularly important that when it comes to isolation facilities, appropriate prioritisation is placed on those that have mild or no symptoms.

“This group of persons with COVID-19 infection should not be placed in a hospital environment, they are better off being placed in a non-hospital environment, such as hotels where they’ll be comfortably looked after, because they do not require any specific monitoring or treatment.

“And it’ll be much cheaper for state governments to adopt this approach for the 80 percent of those that will be positive with COVID-19 infection and allow hospital beds and medical facilities to be used for those that require them most.”

He urged all Nigerians to maximally collaborate with the government and security agencies to boost the nation’s chances of coming out of the COVID-19 crisis soonest.

We’re using Ebola e-data tool for coronavirus response – NCDC

The Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the centre wass using electronic data collecting tool developed during the Ebola outbreak to drive the response on COVID-19.

“The agency developed an electronic data collecting tool after the Ebola outbreak.

“The tool is the reason Nigerians see the data of cases every day.

“The NCDC also has a tool for logistics management. We can tell with this tool where every single mask, medical gown or sanitizer has gone.”