The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, has explained why the door-to-door testing for the coronavirus in the wouldn’t be effective in the limited time.
According to NCDC DG, “It’s not really our strategy to go door-to-door to 200 million Nigerians,” Ihekweazu said while answering questions during the briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Friday.
“We have a strategy of looking for people who meet the case definition and even in communities where we are testing, we are not testing everybody. We are still asking “do you meet that case definition?” if yes, we collect samples,”.
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Speaking on the effectiveness of the use of face mask, Dr. Chikwe said“The masks can only be used in conjunction with everything else,” he said, adding: “It is not a silver bullet and this is something we’ve been emphasizing as much as possible.
“It is just an additional measure to everything else we’ve been doing and so, we have to continue doing those things together.
“Yes, we’ve all started using masks whenever we are outside but please don’t stop washing your hands, don’t stop your physical distancing. Do all of them together. It is only by doing them together that we will get the effect that we want”.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu who is the Governor of the epicenter of the virus in Nigeria, Lagos State, has enforce the use of face masks from next week, as a control measure to the spread of the virus. Other state like Cross-River state has also followed in the same line, setting out sanctions for defaulters.
