COVID-19: ‘We’re running against time with no laboratories, ventilators’ – NCDC

The Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 is running against time because Nigerians want to return to normal life.

He also explained that Lagos State has more testing capacity than Kano State because the first COVID-19 outbreak happened in Africa’s largest commercial city.

Ihekweazu spoke during a virtual press briefing by the World Economic Forum/World Health Organisation on Thursday.

He said: “We will be transferring some of our knowledge from states to states. We are running against time because people are pushing to live normal life.

“At the same time, we are confronted with the escalation phase of the figures. So how to balance this will be very a difficult decision to be made in the coming week.

“We wished we had the laboratories and ventilators we need, but we simply don’t, and the supply chain of these things are fragmented at the moment, so we will have to make do with what is available,” he added.