The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has offered reasons why the infection figures from Kano State from the Coronavirus Disease have not been made public in the past 48 hours.
Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu. the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, gave the reason on Friday during the daily news briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
Ihekweazu said: “The reason for the delay seen in release of updated Kano numbers is the temporary closure of the Testing Centre in Kano for disinfection.
“We have in the meantime been sending Kano samples to Abuja.
“But the Kano Laboratory should be reopened by tomorrow.”
Ihekweazu said one thing the Novel Coronavirus pandemic in the country cannot do is knock out the can-do spirit and resilience of Nigerians.
“One thing COVID-19 has not been able to do is knock out our spirit as Nigerians,” he said.
Ihekweazu asked for endurance, support and patience in these challenging times.
He recognised the difficulties and hardship occasioned by the lockdown and appealed for support.
He said Nigerians need to observe unprecedented levels of caution and of adherence to preventive measures of hand washing, physical distancing, face masks, avoid gatherings, non-essential travel protect and the protection of the older population.
The NCDC boss assured that Nigeria would get to the end of the pandemic, but appealed for more sacrifices.
He urged Nigerians to amplify messages from the agency and other authorities on containing the spread of the virus.
Also speaking, Dr. Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator, Presidential Task Force, said the PTF would continue to closely monitor the situation especially in FCT, Lagos and Kano States.
Aliyu said the PTF was aggressively focusing on grassroots awareness, working with Federal and State Governments and their agencies and other partners.
He said it was important to observe safety guidelines during Ramadan.
The National Coordinator said Nigerians had a right to their COVID-19 test results.
