By Fola James
No fewer than 138 members serving in the mandatory National Youths Service Corps have tested positive, Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control NCDC said on Monday during the daily briefing of the presidential task force, PTF on COVID-19.
The NCDC boss said tests were carried out on the over 34,000 corps members after which it was discovered that five per cent of that number now carried the virus.
“A total of 34,785 corps members and members of the camp communities have been tested so far in the last weeks of which only 138 was found positive, which is 0.4 per cent prevalence and 1 in 200 people,” Ihekwea said.
He said efforts are ongoing to ensure that all the universities in the country were free of COVID 19.
“Universities are slightly riskier and present unique challenges, but we are confident that we can address this as we have done in other sectors like aviation,” the NCDC boss said.
Dr Sani Aliyu, national coordinator of the PTF, said school administrators must ensure that students with respiratory symptoms were sent home to get treatment to reduce risk of transmission.
According to him “School reopening: following some of the issues we had with Lagos State with outbreaks in some of the schools, we will like to re-emphasis adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions by schools and in particular screening and heightened awareness with regards to COVID-19,” he said.
“Any student presenting with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 particularly respiratory symptoms or fever should not be allowed to come to school.
“When teachers notice a child with respiratory symptom, the child should be sent back home, so that we can reduce the risk of transmission. Just as it is important for the need to communicate effectively with parents, staff, school health teams and creating protocols and providing regular updates on any changes to the school procedures as it relates to COVID.”
