PTF coordinator: There are thousands of undetected COVID-19 cases in Nigeria

Sani Aliyu, the national coordinator, presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19, says for every COVID-19 case, there are a handful of missing cases because the health authorities are unable to test everybody.

Aliyu, who disclosed this during the PTF briefing on Thursday, expressed concern that some Nigerians do not believe that COVID-19 is real.

He said such attitude will only fuel the spread of the virus, and called on people to take more precautions in order to contain the spread of the virus.

“Many countries in the world are fighting this pandemic. Over nine million people have tested positive, not suspicion, but tested positive for the disease and at least 22,000 of them are in Nigeria,” he said.

“There are thousands more in our country. For everyone case, there are a handful of cases that we are missing because we are not able to test everybody.

“The containment measures that were put in place to protect the public, are there to protect the public, they’re not there to swindle them.

“No sane country on earth will destroy its own economy willingly. No sane country on earth will take major decisions that they know would be detrimental to their economy.

“So we’re living in really challenging times and we couldn’t have taken these decisions just on the basis of maybe suspicion that a disease exists.

“This disease does exist. Whether we like it or not, it exists. If we want to survive it, we have to start believing in it.”

According to Aliyu, if people believed Ebola and Lassa fever without experiencing it first-hand, then there was no reason to doubt the existence of COVID-19 in the country.

“We do not need to know someone personally who has died from COVID-19 to believe it is real. In fact, I think it is a disservice and it is insensitive to those families that have lost loved ones for people to continue to claim that COVID-19 does not exist,” he said.

“Let us not wait for the virus to reach disastrous proportions before we begin to believe and act. We have already seen this happen in many other countries. We must learn from their experiences to mitigate preventable fatalities.”

The PTF coordinator also added that the relaxation of restrictions put in place to contain the spread of the infection does not mean that Nigeria is at a lower risk of catching the infection.

He, therefore, urged citizens to continue to adhere strictly to the COVID-19 safety protocols.