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Every state in Nigeria will have its share of COVID-19 —NCDC boss

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The Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has noted that no state in Nigeria will escape the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus which has already infected 407 persons across the country.

Ihekweazu who noted this during an appearance on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily on Thursday said every state will have its fair share of the COVID-19 disease.

Speaking further, the NCDC boss said that the outbreak of COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria.

However, he assured that the Federal Government was making efforts to curb the spread of the virus, while also insisting that it has not been an easy task.

He said; “We have responded to Lassa smoothly and nobody shut down the country because it wasn’t necessary, the response was fairly efficient.

“Now, COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria, there is no reason why it won’t – it is a respiratory virus,” he said.

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“We just activated the lab in Kano a few days ago. So, these are the results of the increased testing capacity that we are providing for the country,” he added.

Ihekweazu also stated that; “The tests are fairly robust; I can’t say 100 per cent, but they are as close to that as possible. We had the highest number of positive cases in a single day.

“Since the onset of the outbreak, we are testing a lot more (and) that is beginning to show. It is only so much we can do from NCDC; we are working with the state governments.

“They actually own the response at the state and local levels, and we need all of them now. We really have to face the reality that this is an outbreak, this is a virus.

“It will circulate in Nigeria, absolutely no doubt and our responsibility as a country is to prepare more, to be able to detect, isolate, treat, list contacts, and stop transmission,” he said.

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