The Director General of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu has given a breakdown of the three categories of people need to get tested for the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Ihekweazu, those seeking to get tested simply because of anxiety, are causing problems and deny those who really need the test the opportunity.
Speaking at press conference on Tuesday, Iheakweazu said NCDC was also building capacity to test 1,000 people daily by the end of the week.
Presently, the Centre, he said has capacity to test 500 people daily.
He said, “As at last week we are testing about 500 per day, or we had the capacity to test 500 per day. By the end of this week, we will be at a thousand per day, and next week we plan to take it to a 1, 500 per day, just by increasing the number of labs.
“We are managing and improving the supply sides, but at the same time, we need to reduce the demand side to those that really need it. So, in Lagos there is a big problem of a lot of anxiety and everybody wants to get tested. We need you to help us give this message to people.”
Iheakweazu said, “We have a case definition for COVID-19; either you have respiratory symptoms, travelled or had contact with a confirmed case or respiratory symptoms of unknown explanation. If you have cancer or something like that, we rule that out.
“These are the three groups, you must have symptoms and this is an important message because the more people force themselves into being tested the less we have the capacity to test those that really need it.
These people that really need it will be transmitting it into the community and more people will get infected.”
