Three hundred and thirty-nine new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Nigeria, pushing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 7,016.
However, despite the rising number of infections in the country, the federal government is considering discharging COVID-19 patients earlier than their required treatment and isolation period, even though they are still positive.
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known at the daily Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Thursday – it may be connected to lack of sufficient bed spaces in Isolation centers.
Meanwhile, the centre also announced that 11 patients died of coronavirus related complications in the country, making the total COVID-19 fatalities rise to 211.
With 67 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the total number of discharged patients increased to 1907.
NCDC said, “On the 21st of May 2020, 339 new confirmed cases and 9 deaths were recorded in Nigeria.
“No new state has reported a case in the last 24 hours.
“Till date, 7016 cases have been confirmed, 1907 cases have been discharged and 211 deaths have been recorded in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The 339 new cases are reported from 18 states- Lagos(139), Kano(28), Oyo(28), Edo(25), Katsina(22), Kaduna(18), Jigawa (14), Yobe(13), Plateau (13), FCT(11), Gombe(8), Ogun(5), Bauchi(4), Nasarawa(4), Delta(3), Ondo(2), Rivers(1), Adamawa(1).”
Data from the centre’s website showed that Nigeria currently has 4,892 active COVID-19 cases.
Home based care: FG’s discharging yet-to-recover patients
Mr Ihekweazu said new evidence shows that it is safe to discharge recovering COVID-19 patients even when the results are still positive.
“New evidence is emerging that even when the test is still positive after that patient has been in care for a certain amount of time, it is possible and safe to discharge that patient to home isolation.
”So we are looking at the evidence and we might change our guidelines over time.
“I am sharing this so that we start preparing ourselves for some changes and the directions of how we are planning to go,” he said.
The government’s decision may be linked to the reality that treatment centres across the country have become overwhelmed by the number of persons requiring institutional isolation and treatment.
Mr Ihekweazu earlier said Nigeria lacks adequate bed spaces to accommodate COVID-19 patients in isolation centres across states.
He said the federal government was considering the option of home-care treatment for COVID-19 patients.
”Across the country, we have about 3,500-bed spaces identified as available for coronavirus but in Lagos, we are already struggling.