The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19 pandemic has
taken a swipe at states for underreporting cases so as to appear
safer.
It asked states to take aggressive testing seriously for the
nation to be able to measure the spread of the virus.
National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, who gave the
warning during Monday’s media briefing by the task force in Abuja,
also charged Governors yet to set up the prescribed emergency
isolation centres to start doing so before the numbers of infected
persons start escalating.
Aliyu revealed that there were still many states that had not
been coming out with what should be a realistic figure of the
situation in the states, noting that fighting a war without details
and figures was unwise.
According to him: “COVID-19 numbers is not an issue of
competition between states, there’s no shame if a state comes out
with positive numbers. In order to deal with an epidemic, we need
to have transparency in numbers and that transparency is linked to
the number of tests.
“If you do not know the extent of a problem, you will not be
able to deal with it. So I’m appealing to state governments to
please continue to support the state emergency operating centres,
the State Ministry of Health and make sure that everybody who needs
to be tested for COVID-19 in any state in the country has that
opportunity of having the test done
“We are strongly encouraging more an more testing, as the DG
NCDC said. We are far from exceeding our daily capacity for testing
and we note that some states have actually sent less than 10
samples and I don’t believe there are no patients in these states
that do not have symptoms of respiratory tract infection.
“As you know, we have expanded the indications for testing; not
just people who have travelled abroad, or those who have had
contacts with COVID-19, we are now encouraging all those who are
now presenting to hospitals with respiratory tract infections to be
tested for COVID-19 and we are appealing to states that are in this
situation to make sure that the signs are put for testing.”
He also appealed to Governors to take the call for preparing
emergency isolation centres ahead of cases explosion seriously,
saying now would be the best time to get ready for such a likely
eventuality.
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the COVID-19 pandemic has
taken a swipe at states for underreporting cases so as to appear
safer.
It asked states to take aggressive testing seriously for the
nation to be able to measure the spread of the virus.
National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, who gave the
warning during Monday’s media briefing by the task force in Abuja,
also charged Governors yet to set up the prescribed emergency
isolation centres to start doing so before the numbers of infected
persons start escalating.
Aliyu revealed that there were still many states that had not
been coming out with what should be a realistic figure of the
situation in the states, noting that fighting a war without details
and figures was unwise.
According to him: “COVID-19 numbers is not an issue of
competition between states, there’s no shame if a state comes out
with positive numbers. In order to deal with an epidemic, we need
to have transparency in numbers and that transparency is linked to
the number of tests.
“If you do not know the extent of a problem, you will not be
able to deal with it. So I’m appealing to state governments to
please continue to support the state emergency operating centres,
the State Ministry of Health and make sure that everybody who needs
to be tested for COVID-19 in any state in the country has that
opportunity of having the test done
“We are strongly encouraging more an more testing, as the DG
NCDC said. We are far from exceeding our daily capacity for testing
and we note that some states have actually sent less than 10
samples and I don’t believe there are no patients in these states
that do not have symptoms of respiratory tract infection.
“As you know, we have expanded the indications for testing; not
just people who have travelled abroad, or those who have had
contacts with COVID-19, we are now encouraging all those who are
now presenting to hospitals with respiratory tract infections to be
tested for COVID-19 and we are appealing to states that are in this
situation to make sure that the signs are put for testing.”
He also appealed to Governors to take the call for preparing
emergency isolation centres ahead of cases explosion seriously,
saying now would be the best time to get ready for such a likely
eventuality.