The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has announced that only 526 cases of COVID-19 are now on admission in the Federal Capital Territory.
The new figures were published on the official website of the NCDC as at 12 noon on Friday, September 18, 2020.
The figures were published following the reconciliation of figures by officials of the NCDC and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Health and Human Services Secretariat.
Mohammed Kawu, the acting secretary of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, while addressing journalist on Monday, September 21, 2020, on the development said after the release of new guidelines on discharge from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat adopted the criteria to be able to discharge the high number of active cases in the Community.
He explained that the reconciliation became necessary in order to put to rest the disparity of figures between the NCDC and FCT Administration in respect of the actual number of active cases in the Territory.
He said, to improve Sample collection during the lockdown period, FCT commenced Active Case Search and Community testing based on available data of confirmed cases.
He, however, explained that with the increasing volume of tests in the FCT including persons of interest, POIs, the majority refused admission into the treatment Centres, resulting in large numbers of confirmed cases in the Community.
These cases continue to contribute to large numbers of active cases being reflected in the FCT Statistics.
His words: “Based on new guidelines on discharge from NCDC including the discharge of active cases in the Community, FCT adopted the criteria to be able to discharge the high number of active cases in the Community.
“Out of a total of 5461 COVID – 19 cases as on 13th September, 2024 were admitted in the various treatment centers with 1925 discharged and 36 deaths while 64 were still on admission. An additional 38 deaths were recorded outside the treatment centres. Leaving a total of 3462 cases considered to be active.
“Also, based on our finding and in line with the NCDC guideline for community discharge, the FCT has actually discharged 2967 cases (2958 alive & well + 9 Deaths) from the community. Therefore, as of 13th September 2020, FCT has only 495 active cases of COVID-19”.
Dr. Kawu added that: “on the basis of the new NCDC discharge criteria, we consider all cases that are 3 weeks or more from the date of confirmation to be inactive and discharged from the COVID-19 pathway. That way, we were able to separate the difference between those cases that were actually treated in our Isolation centres and those who remained in the community for more than three weeks after confirmation.”
With this development, the NCDC website indicates that Lagos now has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases with 3,318 followed by Oyo 1,085; Plateau is third with 922 while FCT now occupies the fourth position on the table with 526 active cases.
He also advised that all hands should be on deck to eradicate COVID-19 in the FCT and the entire country.
Source: The Nation
