By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
“A major factor contributing to the mortality of cases is the late presentation at the approved treatment centres,” says Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora.
He explained at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja that caregivers hold on to suspected cases for too long before presenting them for treatment.
Coronavirus deaths have increased in Nigeria since the second wave of the pandemic that has ravaged all countries, closing business, shutting down air travel, and killing indiscriminately.
Globally, the virus has infected 87,201,417 people and killed 1,883,023 since it broke out in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
Compared with other regions, Africa – largely because of its hot climate – has recorded low rates in both infections and deaths – but the figures are rising on the continent.
Live updates on worldometers.info at 6.11pm on Wednesday showed Nigeria with 92,705 cases and 1,319 deaths.
Mamora disclosed that approved COVID-19 treatment centres have scaled up activities and are prepared to deliver quality care, appealing to caregivers to refer cases promptly.
“This will greatly improve treatment outcomes and drive our case fatality rate further down,” he said.
The recent spike in cases across the world confirmed that most countries are now in the second wave of the pandemic.
Since early December 2020, there has been an increase in cases in Nigeria as the country continues to record high daily infections.
On Monday, Nigeria registered 1,204 as its highest daily figure, a record likely to be broken soon going by the way the virus is spreading
Before Monday, the highest daily figure was 1,145 cases on December 12, 2020.
Up to 106 deaths have been recorded in the past 17 days alone.
Health experts believe the lowering of guard on safety and weak enforcement of protocols, especially in the major airports in Abuja and Lagos, could be responsible for the development.
They warn it could get worse if citizens keep on violating safety protocols.
Availability of oxygen
Mamora said the government has been making effort to ensure the availability of oxygen on a short term basis through collaboration with CACOVID, as reported by PREMIUM TIMES.
Efforts are ongoing to ensure oxygen availability at federal tertiary hospitals as well as state-owned hospitals, according to him.
Oxygen availability is targeted at immediate, medium and long term plans with special attention to coronavirus high burden areas like Abuja, Lagos, and Kaduna states.
Mamora appealed to the general public to strictly adhere to non-pharmaceutical interventions such as wearing of face mask, physical and social distancing, handwashing with soap and water and use of hand sanitisers when necessary.
The taskforce is liaising with state governments, National Orientation Agency (NOA), and other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to intensify sensitisation of the public to comply with COVID-19 protocols.
Mamora said some states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have taken measures to ensure compliance such as the introduction of fines for erring members of the public.
This, he stressed, is a step in the right direction considering the ferocity of this second wave of the pandemic.