The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has debunked Cross River State Government’s allegations that the agency is shipping positive and negative test kits and cartridges into the state.
In a statement released Saturday, NCDC said it was aware of recent statements by the Information and Health Commissioners in Cross River State regarding the country’s COVID-19 testing processes.
The Director General, NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the Cross River Information and Health Commissioners’ statements are a misinterpretation of the COVID-19 testing strategy and efforts being made by the Federal Ministry of Health to protect Nigerians’ health from this disease.
“We would like to state unequivocally, that there is no plan to transport positive samples from one state to the other.
“One of our responsibilities at NCDC is to scale-up the capacity for COVID-19 diagnosis in Nigeria as we respond to this pandemic. Our ability to promptly detect cases and halt the spread of the virus in our communities, is largely dependent on our ability to scale-up access to testing for Nigerians,” he said.
The Information and Health Commissioners in Cross River State, Asu Okang and Beta Edu, had accused the NCDC and the Federal Ministry of Health of shipping positive and negative test kits and cartridges to the Nigeria Navy Reference Hospital in Calabar during the week, in violation of the state’s COVID-19 free status.
Cross River is Nigeria’s only State that’s yet to record any positive COVID-19 case. With 487 deaths in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria has reported 19, 147 confirmed cases.
The state accusation was made the same day at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital Isolation Centre, the lawmaker representing the Obudu State constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly, Godwin Akwaji, died of fever and other COVID-19 symptoms.
Daily Trust confirmed that Ms Edu, who is doubling as the state ‘s chair of the COVID-19 response committee, said the move was inappropriate and suspicious.
She said the government would resist any attempt to inflict a COVID-19 index case on the state through the pretense of conducting test case training.
The government also added that it will not allow the training on COVID-19 to hold or for the materials and equipment to enter the state.
They wondered why the Navy hospital should be used by the federal government and NCDC and not the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital or any other open federal facilities for training.
Mr. Okang said the navy would also resist attempts to spread the virus to the state’s citizens, stressing that the navy already had a land grabbing case that had strained the relationship with the state government.
However, the NCDC, in its defence, said given its mandate to protect the health of all Nigerians, it is obliged to state the facts.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria, NCDC has been leading the expansion of testing capacity for virus in the country.
As part of the national strategy to scale up COVID-19 testing published in March 2020, the agency said it has been expanding test capability.
“We are leveraging GeneXpert equipment currently used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.
“The use of GeneXpert will significantly scale-up testing for COVID-19 and improve turn-around time for results in the country,” it stated.
Nigeria is one of several countries worldwide that is using the GeneXpert program to enhance the testing capacity.
The expansion process is supported by partners at US-CDC, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), and others, in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP), according to the statement.
NCDC stated that there are 400 tuberculosis diagnostics sites in Nigeria with GeneXpert equipment.
“However, we have prioritised the roll-out of GeneXpert in states where there is a high level of community transmission and states with limited or no laboratory capacity for the diagnosis of COVID-19 at the moment.
“These are Abia, Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Lagos, Enugu, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Benue, and the FCT. Already, we have worked with NTBLCP and our partners to activate two GeneXpert laboratories in Kaduna and Nasarawa States.”
Mr Ihekweazu said the agency plans to roll out the COVID-19 GeneXpert test sites in every Nigerian state.
“We remain strongly committed to our mandate to protect the health of Nigerians. We urge the public to remain aware of the risks of COVID-19 and to adhere to the preventive measures advised by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Federal Ministry of Health,” he added.