NCDC Currently Tracing 12,000 Coronavirus Contacts

Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has announced on Friday that the agency is tracing over 12,000 people who have had some form of contact with confirmed coronavirus cases.

He revealed this while fielding questions from the media at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19, stating that the numbers are volatile and that there is a daily increase in numbers.

He said, “The number of contacts is very fluid because with every new case, there is a new contact. But we are following up about cumulatively 12,000 contacts across the country from the beginning of the outbreak."

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On the availability of bed spaces for coronavirus patients, Chikwe stated that that is a challenge for the agency, as there are not enough bed spaces available across the country.

He added that the current bed space capacity of 3,500 in the country did not meet the need for an effective tackling of the outbreak, appealing to private bodies and individuals to donate unused facilities for the use of the agency to augment the current capacity.

“There is no state in Nigeria, even Lagos that has fully fulfilled the bed capacity that they need to respond to this outbreak.

“No single state in Nigeria has achieved that."