As cases of COVID-19 pandemic continue to increase in Nigeria, figures from Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria has declined in recent weeks, creating the impression that the measures in place in the FCT have worked.
Recall that Abuja recorded 16 new cases on Wednesday, April 29, bringing the total number of cases in Nigeria’s capital to 174. With 135 active cases, only 3 deaths have been recorded so far.
Confirming the new cases in a tweet via its Twitter account on Thursday, the NCDC wrote, “Sixteen (16) New Cases in the FCT.
“Summary of COVID19 at FCT as at 11:55 pm, 29th April 2020.
“Total number of confirmed cases: 174.
“Total number of active cases: 135.
“36 patients have been discharged with 3 deaths recorded.’’
But this is, however, far from the truth as an official source told AFRIPOST that due to the few testing centres in the capital city, many people have not been tested and are unable to know their status. According to him, ‘’ Residents of the FCT must be very careful. They must know that there are more cases than we have announced. We must give this warning because many people have not been tested. We understand that some have even refused to come forwarded to be tested even with obvious symptoms of the virus,’’ he said.
The source also disclosed that door-to-door sample collection for COVID-19 testing will soon get to every home in the FCT, and after that is done that Abuja residents can truly be aware of their COVID-19 status.
Our source disclosed further that most residents of satellite towns in the FCT do not observe COVID-19 guidelines and are consequently exposed to the virus.
‘’I strongly believe that we have many cases in the satellite towns. Most of them don’t even believe that COVID-19 is real. They go about their businesses despite the lockdown. Some of them believe that the lockdown is a scam and one wonders what scam they are talking about. Where is that idea coming from?
“How can a government shut down the entire country and be losing billions to a disease that does not exist? It’s ridiculous to think that way. But that is what some people believe, and they cluster to drink, play football, table tennis, enter Keke Napep without protective gears and buy things from supermarkets without the use of hand sanitizer. It goes to show that we are in for a very big challenge,’’ he said.