The federal government also said that there will still be more social mobilization for community testing at grassroots level and isolation of positive cases.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, stated this at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He stated that the recent marked increase in the numbers of new COVID-19 cases is likely to scale-up implementation of new case-finding strategy, as well as the result of rising community transmission.
“With house-to-house and cluster testing, and using the revised criteria for sample collection, yield has increased. More people with COVID-19 are being detected and transferred to treatment centres”, the minister explained.
He urged citizens to disclose complete and accurate information to health workers, especially about their travel history or contact with persons who have or had COVID-19.
“This is important for two main reasons: full disclosure allows health workers to promptly, investigate, diagnose and treat correctly, to improve chances of patient survival and recovery. The right information also keeps the health workers safe. Withholding the truth puts both the user and caregiver at risk, but also other patients on site. Several Health workers, who must then self-isolate as a result of exposure to a positive patient, will also be put out of circulation”, he added.
On confirmed cases, Ehanire said, “As of today, 17th April, 2020, a total of 442 people in 20 states have been confirmed to have COVID-19. The 35 new confirmations are distributed as follows: 19 in Lagos, 9 in FCT, 5 in Kano and 2 in Oyo. 13 deaths, all with comorbidities, have been recorded so far, and 152 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Nigeria and have been discharged.
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