ASHENEWS reports that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) says that the report of the resurgence of COVID-19 in Benue State is false.
The NCDC stated this in a statement issued on Thursday.
“The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) is aware of the news report on the detection of 25 new COVID-19 cases in Benue State.
“The report is a complete misinterpretation of a statement made on 11th December 2023 by a World Health Organization’s (WHO) State surveillance officer at the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Media Personnel Meeting organized by the Benue State Primary Healthcare Board in collaboration with the WHO.
“The surveillance officer, while giving her presentation on the epidemiology of COVID-19 in Benue, stated that “Benue State had recorded a total of 25 cases in the year 2023 with the last case recorded as of mid-April (epi week 18)”. The information provided by the surveillance officer was based on the publicly available situation report (SITREP) published weekly by the state ministry of health,” the statement said.
The statement clarified that Nigeria has since the index case of COVID-19 in Nigeria conducted a total of 6,013, 826 tests conducted out of which 267,184 were confirmed positive and 3,155 deaths were recorded.
“In the last quarter of the year (October to December 2023), there have been a total of 15,481 tests conducted, 75 confirmed cases confirmed cases in 25 states.
“Since the WHO official declaration that COVID-19 no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the NCDC, has included COVID-19 in the integrated disease surveillance strategy as a priority infectious disease which now requires conducting routine COVID-19 testing and reporting it along with other infectious diseases.
“COVID-19 testing is part of clinical care for pandemic flu preparedness, and bi-directional testing during investigations for influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and in high-risk populations.”
It added that the NCDC was continuing to test for COVID-19 in patients who present with Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).
The statement restated the NCDC’s commitment to protecting the health of Nigerians and ensuring trust through transparency by consistently fostering open communication channels and providing accurate and timely information on issues of public health importance.
