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Posted By Udokabestluv On April 25th, 2020

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Head, Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed Friday that some states were yet to submit samples for test to know if they had COVID-19 cases.

While speaking during a television programme, Ihekweazu said the NCDC expects a number of tests to be conducted for each state.

As at Friday, 26 out of the 36 states, in addition to the federal capital territory (FCT), have confirmed cases of the disease.

Ihekweazu said while the NCDC was improving on its testing capacity for COVID-19, it is worrisome that samples had not been sent by some states yet.

“It is a bit like pretending like the problem does not exist because you are not looking for it,” he said.

“In every state, we expect a certain number of people to fit the case definition of an acute respiratory infection without an underlying cause.

“If you take away contacts with travellers and with confirmed cases, the third part of our case definition which says anyone with an acute respiratory infection for which there is no underlying cause should have a sample collected to know whether they have this disease or not.

“So, we expect every state to submit a certain number of samples for testing every day. We have seen that some states have not submitted a single sample.”