NCDC DG, Ifedayo Adetifa
The Nigeria Centre For Disease and Control (NCDC) says it will continue to deliver on its mandate to prevent, detect and respond to protect Nigerians from the deleterious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other diseases of public health importance.
The Director-General, NCDC, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, gave the assurance at the national briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, on Monday, in Abuja.
Adetifa outlined the NCDC actions on COVID-19 include but were not limited to: Continued surveillance of cases using the digital surveillance tool, SORMAS nationwide. Support for the network of molecular laboratories set up diagnose COVID-19.
“Expansion of access to COVID-19 testing through the deployment of validated rapid diagnostic tests to improve surveillance.
“Management and expansion of the national stockpile for infectious diseases and delivery of needed commodities to support the response of our states to outbreaks.
“Consistent risk communication to Nigerians and the world at large on the latest national COVID-19 updates whether via social media, our website, these briefings and regular media engagements.”
Adetifa further reiterated that the continued commitment of the NCDC with the support of the FMoH, the Federal and State Governments, other MDAs, partners and fellow citizens to its role in sustaining a robust response to this pandemic.
Adetifa also said, “while access to vaccines and consequently COVID-19 vaccination coverage has not lived up to the ideals of equity required to assure global health security, it is essential that people play their part by making use of all opportunities on offer to access vaccines.
“We cannot deny that there are many Nigerians who still react to any reference to COVID-19 with disbelief, we appreciate there the pandemic has not just had consequences for health but for the personal and national economy, and that there is now considerable pandemic fatigue.
“Regardless of the foregoing, the reality cannot be denied and it is, this disease does indeed still exist, the virus is real and unfortunately still makes people sick and causes deaths.
“The more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus is dominant worldwide and including here in Nigeria. This variant that was responsible for our third wave as elsewhere emerged from a situation of unmitigated viral transmission.
“Although we have been spared the worst of COVID-19, if we do not sustain recommended measures to mitigate this SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, we will remain at high risk of the emergence of new and even more dangerous variants than the delta variant.”
He explained that one analogy to put the virus into perspective was to remind Nigerians of why hypertension and diabetes were considered silent killers – they both cause little or early symptoms for a long time in many people but behind the scenes, they were damaging blood, vessels, the heart and the kidneys.
“This is why for many cases, the first presentation in hospital is with a stroke, a heart attack or diabetic coma and the often said, ‘he or she was healthy and never sick…’.
“The virus is here and community transmission is occurring mostly silently but we should do all we can to prevent the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants capable of evading whatever immune protections we currently enjoy,” he added.
He added that other countries have continued to experience sudden surges in cases as a consequence of the poor use of safety measures and inadequate vaccination.
“So, I implore you all in your personal, official, corporate settings to ensure good hand hygiene (by washing with clean water and soap or hand sanitiser), good respiratory etiquette (sneezing or coughing not into your hands but into your elbow or better still into a tissue and disposing of this properly), and to wear facemasks (not just to burden ourselves unnecessarily but as a protective measure that can reduce the spread of the virus through droplets and aerosols when we breathe.”
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