COVID-19: January will be tough, says NCDC

The Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Iheakwazu, has said the nation’s health system is facing serious challenges in terms of finding facilities to cope with rising number of coronavirus infections daily.

He said January next year would be tough because of the citizens’ disregard for the COVID-19 safety protocols during the Yuletide and end of the year activities.

He spoke on Tuesday at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

Iheakwasu said, “We just faced the worst week since we started responding to this outbreak. We had more cases in Nigeria last week than in any other previous week since the beginning of the outbreak.

“January will be a tough month, no doubt about it. So, we have to brace ourselves for the consequences of the activities that we have decided to carry out in December. Our colleagues, the chief medical directors are here today because of the pressures that we face across the country. Our treatment centres are filling up; we are struggling to keep up; we are struggling to find the facilities and oxygen to manage. Every night we are faced with phone calls of patients desperate for care.”

According to him, the challenges are as a result of not heeding the authority’s safety guidelines and appeals, noting that “events centres are full; social activities are full and so it is no surprises that cases are rising.”

The NCDC DG, however, said there was still an opportunity to reverse the trending, urging “state governors to be more purposeful in implementing the measures that we have collectively agreed on.”