COVID-19: Nigeria has 112 treatment, isolation centres, 5,324 beds — Minister

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Nigeria has a total of 112 treatment and isolation centres with 5,324 beds as part of the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Minster of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, made this known during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 daily press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja.

Mamora said: “At present, we have a total of 112 treatment and isolation centres in all the 36 states and FCT, with 5,324 beds.

“While only five states, including the FCT, have at least 300 beds as prescribed for isolation and treatment, 21 states have less than 100 bed spaces.

“As the number of confirmed cases increases, there is an urgent need to expand our treatment centres across the country.”

Mamora called on state governors and philanthropists to take active and deliberate steps to scale up the number of beds for isolation and treatment of confirmed cases in their states.

The minister said this became necessary as the country prepared to move into the next phase of the response, including the easing of the lockdown.

He added that the ministry had conducted a high level technical session on strategic outputs of Mid-Action Review and identified priority activities for the next phase of the response.

“In addition, we have commenced development of sector specific advisories on reopening. Training of health workers on case management is ongoing in more states,” he added.

Mamora announced that there were global efforts to find a cure for the disease and Nigeria was part of this  effort.

He said: “We have received a few proposals for local remedies for the disease and these have been forwarded to the relevant agencies for evaluation.

“For a preparation to be approved for use in Nigeria, it must be subjected to safety, toxicological and efficacy tests as well as clinical trials.”

Mamora noted that government would support every genuine efforts aimed at finding a local solution to the pandemic.

“Therefore, non-pharmaceutical preventive approach is still our best strategy,” the minister said.

In his address, the PTF National Coordinator, Dr. Sani Aliyu, said states were responsible for case management in the fight against COVID-19 in the country.

Aliyu said the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control was also leading the efforts in designing and implementing national testing strategies to scale-up testing in Nigeria.

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The coordinator said Nigerians could contact the PTF via email: ptfcovid19@osgf.org.ng.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Nigeria have recorded a total of 8,344 confirmed cases in 34 states and FCT, out of which 2,385 have been successfully treated and discharged.

Unfortunately the country have recorded 249 deaths.

While most of those who died were associated with comorbidities, three out of four of those discharged were without comorbidities.

This is consistent with the fact that risks are higher for those with other illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes and other chronic non-communicable diseases.

There is general reduction in mortality trend and continuous improvement in recoveries as shown in discharges compared to the increase in number of confirmed cases.

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