The Federal Government has explained the spike in the cases of coronavirus across the nation is attributable to the strong, ongoing community transmission.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, stated this during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

Ehanire said that the renewed efforts by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to do more aggressive testing is also responsible for the increased cases recorded.

He said: “Concerning the increased number of cases, there is the notion that community transmission is going on very strongly and therefore, increasing the cases of those infected with COVID-19 and giving you something to find.

“It is also due to the improvement in testing and case finding. There is a renewed effort to do more aggressive testing by the NCDC – house-to-house testing and following any clusters that are of interest to increase the testing and to get more cases.

“We are going to order for over 100,000 cartridges of the GeneXpert machine through the Global Fund facility that we have through the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM).

“Also, if we are able to get the biosafety cabinets for 26 of them ready, we can boost the number of activated GeneXpert machines in the country.

“The GeneXpert machines have four modules which allow you to test four samples at a time and the good thing about them is that they give you your results in a much faster time –  within 45 minutes to 1 hour. So you can wait to get your results with the GeneXpert machine much faster.”

The GeneXpert machine is part of the high throughput testing platforms proposed by NCDC to increase testing, as there are 400 GeneXpert machines across the country.

The Director-General of the NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said: “95 to 98 percent of patients will recover from this illness irrespective of medical intervention, depending on where they are. Many patients are asymptomatic and will recover.

“The only reason we are keeping them in isolation and treatment centres is to prevent transmission to others as much as possible.

“5 to 15 percent depending on where they are will become severely ill and some will unfortunately pass away.

“Every state is at risk right now. So the idea that moving from one state to another qualifies you to be at higher risk really is no longer the case.

“The measures recommended globally is the same measure we recommend for everyone.

“Therefore, whatever measures we have to do, we have to do it collectively – whether you are in the North, South, East or West.”