Ihekweazu who disclosed this while reacting to report of a United States resident testing positive for the disease after arriving the North-American country from Nigeria, said an outbreak would be declared when there are large cluster of monkeypox cases that constituted an emergency.

Revealing that the NCDC have been working with state health ministries to strengthen monkeypox disease surveillance and response in the country, Ihekweazu also disclosed that states with the highest number of cases are Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Lagos.

The NCDC DG urged Nigerians who feel ill or have a sudden rash, to visit a hospital for diagnosis and management

NCDC Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu revealed this on Monday during a television interview in Abuja.

He mentioned that Lagos, Kano, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Plateau and Borno are the states where positive cases are dropping.

He explained that the reason for the reduction in the positivity rate in those states was the result of consistently testing high numbers of persons.

But, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has urged Nigerians not to rejoice too early, as the fewer positive cases of the past few days does not give an accurate picture of the country’s infection transmission status.

It also disclosed that as sample collection and testing is ramped up in more rural areas and small towns, there is likely going to be an increase in the number of positive cases coming from such areas.

Ihekweazu said: “It is only through testing the numbers of people that may have the infection, that we can actually understand how widespread that infection is.

“The state that gives us the biggest indicator of where we are is the data out of Lagos State. Lagos has consistently made the effort to test as many people as possible. They have been responsible for 50 per cent of the cases initially, which is now down to about 30 per cent in the country.

According to the NCDC, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political parties, politicians, need to adhere strictly with the guidelines and lead by example to control the virus spread.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the NCDC, disclosed this during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, July 6.

He said, “Today we are announcing and launching a new guideline for the conducting of elections during the COVID-19 Outbreak in Nigeria. Some states will be holding state and local government elections this year, being the first time we are holding elections of this significance during the pandemic. Therefore, we have developed these guidelines to support everyone involved – political parties, INEC, but most critically, Nigerians that will be going to vote in these difficult times. Voting still remains a civic responsibility and even though we are in the middle of a pandemic, we have to find a way of doing this safely and we have to adapt to the new normal. As we know, the virus thrives in mass gathering, so there is a challenge that we have in the way we have conducted our elections –  pre-elections, during elections and post-elections. So, in doing this guideline, we try and offer advice on how to do this safely. We strongly encourage the use of television, radios, mobile vans, social media and other forms of communication as our politicians solicit for votes. We advise careful adherence to mass gatherings guidelines. Unfortunately, the virus doesn’t recognise whether we are conducting elections, religious gatherings or business settings – it just thrives when people come together. We have provided specific guidelines for these settings and none of them will be surprising and we’ll be explicit about it. We really want to urge our political leaders to take responsibility and lead by example; leadership will be critical in this era and we advise them to think of the lives of the electorates first. The electorate staying alive is much more important than any vote you can win.”

According to a series of tweets by the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force, it said Ihekweazu noted at its daily briefing on Thursday that Younger people, aged 20 to 40, are the ones driving transmission of the Coronavirus.

The tweet added that those bearing the brunt are 50 and above. 3 out of 5 of all who die from Covid-19 are 50 and above.

The NCDC alsoon its Twitter page on the daily briefing update said, “Statistics show the major drivers of #COVID19 spread are the younger populations, however people with underlying medical conditions & the elderly are most vulnerable. We must #TakeResponsibility to keep them safe.”

“We need new thinking around #HealthSecurity which includes equitable access to resources needed for the #COVID19 response.”

Meanwhile, National Coordinator, PTF COVID-19 said a lot of the labs are underutilized; their capacity far exceeds what they’re getting in terms of samples for testing.

He added that every State has an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for Covid-19, noting most States have hotlines, that citizens can call to report symptoms and to get advice on how to can be tested.

DG NCDC: Younger people, aged 20 to 40, are the ones driving transmission of the Coronavirus, but those bearing the brunt are 50 and above. 3 out of 5 of all who die from Covid-19 are 50 and above. #PTFCOVID19

— Covid-19 Presidential Task Force (PTF) | Nigeria (@DigiCommsNG) July 2, 2020

National Coordinator: Every State has an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for Covid-19. Most States have hotlines, that you can call to report symptoms and to get advice on how you can be tested. #PTFCOVID19

— Covid-19 Presidential Task Force (PTF) | Nigeria (@DigiCommsNG) July 2, 2020

According to Ihekweazu the agency is working aggressively to increase the testing across the country, as it ambitiously targets 2 million tests in 3 months.

Iheakweazu said “We are working very aggressively to increase the testing in Nigeria. This is one of the weakest parts of our response because we started from a very low base initially but we have worked extremely hard to move from 5 to 35 laboratories right now with their ability to test for COVID-19. We have carried out the highest number of test over the last few days and we will keep increasing this progressively across the country. Testing is such an important entry point in the response because of the number of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic infections that we have. We have to really ramp up our testing because it is an eye into the outbreak. We can’t manage something we can’t measure sufficiently. We also have our eyes on the future because we never want to be in a situation that we are right now. The Africa Centre for Disease Control has been a great support for this. We set a very ambitious target for ourselves about a month ago, to test two million people in 3 months. We are not yet meeting that target but we are well on our way to do so as we introduce new testing opportunities using the genexpert platform, the Abbot platform that we use for HIV into the testing apparatus in Nigeria.”

NCDC Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, stated this while speaking at the House of Representatives on Monday when members of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) appeared before a joint committee of the House.

“We are still in the middle of a very, very bad outbreak. In fact, it is most likely that we are at the beginning of a very bad outbreak. This is the honest truth.

“And as we dig into the details of what we have done, I really crave your indulgence to please, bear in mind that we do this work together, because we really have a collective responsibility to our people,” Ihekweazu said.

Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, who made this disclosure while speaking in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria,  in Abuja, said NCDC data revealed that of the 6,649 suspected cases tested for the disease, 71 per cent were males, while females made up just 21 per cent of the total number.

Revealing the source of the cases, the NCDC DG said 210 had travel history, 129 were contacts of confirmed cases, 11 infected by unknown sources, while 92 still had incomplete epidemiological information.

Dr Ihekweazu disclosed that in the last 24 hours, 35 new confirmed cases were reported bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 442.

“No new case has been reported from any state in the last 24 hours, as the number of states with confirmed cases remains 19, including the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.

According to the NCDC DG, the agency continues to respond to the pandemic across the country and had prioritised the distribution of Viral Transport Medium, to all the states and FCT, for sample collection.

He also said that the deployment of COVID-19 starter packs to all tertiary institutions and the federal medical centres was in progress.

Iheakweazu further said the NCDC had fully set up an expanded laboratory network for COVID-19 across the six geopolitical zones, with 13 laboratories activated.

He, however, said that the deployment of Rapid Response Team to support response in all states with confirmed case(s) stood at 22.

NAN reports that the country’s active cases currently stand at 277, with majority in stable condition.

It said the 35 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded from four states: 19 in Lagos, nine in FCT, five in Kano and two in Oyo State.

“As of 10:20 p.m on April 16, Lagos has a total of 251 positive cases, while the FCT and Kano have 67 and 21 confirmed cases of COVID-19 respectively.

“Others are Osun- 20, Ogun – 9, Edo – 15, Oyo – 13, Bauchi – six, Kaduna – six, Akwa Ibom – six, Katsina – Seven, Kwara – four and Ondo – three.

“Delta– four, Kano– 16, Enugu – two, Ekiti – two, Rivers – two, Benue – one, Niger – two and Anambra – one,” it stated.

The NCDC Director-General, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said this in a tweet on his verified Twitter handle on Tuesday.

The NCDC boss, while explaining that the agency has increased its testing capacity, said the agency is planning to test 1000 samples daily in Abuja and other parts of the country.

The tweet read: “The target is to test 2000 samples in Lagos, 1000 in Abuja and in the rest of the country daily, of the right people who meet the case definition.”

“We’re expanding our labs, we have provided states with sample collection kits and developing innovative methods to ensure testing.

“Our laboratories are ready and have the capacity to test. We must all push harder than we have.

“The responsibility lies with the government as well as with citizens. We can pull through if we stay together.”

NCDC DG, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu said 195 confirmed cases and 29 deaths were reported in 11 states as of January 24. Two Kano health workers were also confirmed dead in the recent outbreak in which 89% of the confirmed cases are from Ondo, Edo and Ebonyi.

Ihekweazu said “Over the last three weeks, NCDC has deployed Rapid Response Teams to support five of the affected states. The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire led a high-level delegation to Kano State on the 25th of January 2020, following the deaths of two health workers infected with Lassa fever. In addition, NCDC has rapidly increased risk communications and community engagement activities to ensure that Nigerians are aware of the risks of Lassa fever and measures to protect themselves. There has been a decline in the case fatality rate of reported Lassa fever cases from 23.4% in 2019 to 14.8% this year. NCDC continues to support treatment centres across states in the country to effectively manage Lassa fever cases. In addition, five laboratories in Nigeria have the capacity to diagnose Lassa fever in Nigeria. These laboratories are critical to reducing turnaround time between identifying a suspected case and confirmation. NCDC and the three main treatment centres in the country – Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre Owo and Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakalilki – are set to commence Lassa fever epidemiological studies that will provide data to guide research and response activities.”