THE Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has confirmed 132 new cases of COVID-19.
According to the NCDC, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 caases in the country is now 56,388.
The NCDC made this known via its verified Twitter handle @NCDCgov on Monday night.
It said, “On the 14th of September, 2020, 132 new confirmed cases and 1 death were recorded in Nigeria.
“Till date, 56,388 cases have been confirmed, 44,337 cases have been discharged and 1,083 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The 132 new cases are reported from 11 states- Lagos (52), Gombe (27), Plateau (17), Kwara (10), Enugu (9), Ogun (9), Katsina (3), Ekiti (2), Bauchi (1), Osun (1), Rivers (1).”
Earlier on Monday, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 Control alleged that states were not carrying out enough tests despite having 71 molecular laboratories in the country excluding the accredited private hospitals where COVID-19 tests can be conducted.
Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure during the PTF briefing.
“Seventy-nine confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection were reported in the past 24 hours from 13 states of the Federation, bringing the total number of known cases as of today 14th September, 2020 to 56,256 out of a total of number of 442,075 tests conducted. 44,152 persons have been treated and discharged while 1,082 have sadly been lost to COVID-19.
“Though, we continue to record declining positivity rates every day, we are reluctant to conclude that we are halting the spread of disease, because some states have not sustained the testing rate that would give us more assurance. Only 13 States, for example, reported their figures in the past 24 hours. This can be better.
“Until all parts of the country can sustain a certain testing rate, it would seem presumptuous to conclude that we are flattening the curve.
“In the words of Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), we are not safe until everyone is safe; I therefore again request our state governments to ramp up the testing momentum, so that we can together get control of the spread of this disease in our country.
“The entire surveillance diagnostics and response is inter-related.
“The NCDC is responsible for surveillance and diagnostics mainly. They support in other activities. The state governments are the one that begin the actual activity of collecting samples, working out the surveillance, contact tracing etc. So there is an interdependency there.
“Not all the laboratories belong to the NCDC. The job of the NCDC is largely to coordinate. The interdependency means that there must be sample collection and testing going on. The NCDC can only report what it gets.”
The world has recorded 29,442,256 cases of COVID-19, 932,744 deaths and 21,276,665 recoveries.
