By Ismail Auwal
Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has cried out that patients are beginning to fill up COVID-19 isolation centers in some states.
NCDC Director-General Ifedayo Adetifa stated this on AIT’s Kakaaki program on Thursday.
Adetifa, who appeared on the show, stated that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant and appears to have a shorter incubation period.
“It is responsible for the increase that we’re seeing in COVID-19 cases, but it is also important to note that even as that is happening, the existing Delta variant is still persisting. It’s either slowly being replaced or has already been replaced by Omicron,“ he said.
“In addition to the wave, isolation centres and treatment centres in some of our cities, especially those that typically have the highest burden, are already beginning to fill up.”
On Monday, the NCDC said Nigeria is currently experiencing its fourth wave of COVID-19 and has recorded a 500 percent surge in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks across the country.
The director-general stated Nigerians’ has continued to deny the existence of COVID-19 and failing to adhere to public health safety measures or get vaccinated,
“we’re allowing transmission to continue in an unmitigated fashion which means that there’s a risk, even with moderate and severe cases, our health care system may get overwhelmed”.
“If it’s beginning to look like our health system is about to be overwhelmed, then government may be forced to put in place more stringent measures which may include restrictions on gathering, and even curfews,” he said.