There Are No Isolation Centres In Nigeria- NCDC
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) has said there are no isolation centres for travelers entering the country because it would be impossible to have such facility.
Emeka Aku, Media Liason for the centre, who spoke to THE WHISTLER on Monday, said Nigeria was following recommendations of the World Health Organization(WHO) on the containment of the Coronavirus pandemic by giving advice to travelers returning into the country to self-isolate in their homes for 14 days to see if they would develop any symptoms.
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He however said the centre had put in place a quarantine facility at Gwagwalada where those infected would be isolated and treated.
“We don’t have isolation centres. It’s not possible to have isolation centres for everybody. There are people coming into the country, thousands of people; how do you put all of them in an isolation centre? It’s impossible. We are following WHO recommendations that people who arrive should isolate themselves in their own houses for 14 days and if they show symptoms then they would be tested. “
“What we have in Abuja is a quarantine centre for those who have tested positive.”
Asked to react to allegations that NCDC call centre attendants give conflicting information and do not arrange tests for callers who show symptoms, he dismissed the allegation as malicious.
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He said the AIT report which made the allegation was deliberately skewed, adding that the report did not give the full picture.
“The AIT report was mischievous and ill-motivated. It is not everybody that calls the NCDC hotline with symptoms that would be tested. The symptoms must fall into a case definition before they will take your contact and your blood sample. The AIT report deliberately left out the person that was tested because it didn’t fit into their narrative. The media is spreading disinformation.”
Meanwhile efforts by TheWhistler to reach the toll free number provided by the centre, was abortive as no one responded to the calls for four times that this website called on Monday between 4pm and 7pm.
After saying they would connect the caller to an agent, the machine voice spoke for minutes before dropping.
The call was again repeated on Tuesday at 7:am but there was still no response.
On Monday the country had a total of 40 cases, 2 discharged and 1 death recorded.
