Sultan Quadri

SUMMARY

A viral WhatsApp message has laid a long list of accusations on the federal government concerning the Coronavirus Pandemic.

FULL TEXT

In the lengthy post the sender addressed the initial receiver as one Mr Tunde. He claimed to work with the NCDC and close to the agency’s graphics designer who he alleged that has been coerced to falsify the figures of Coronavirus patients.
These are the major claims he made, we will examine them one after the other:


1. Number of COVID-19 cases are not real
2. There are no health facilities that can take real COVID-19 test
3. The government is not doing house to house tests
4. Nigerians will never go to test for COVID-19 and “Over 14 days of Stay at home, no one has come to complain of any symptoms”
5.  There is no flu in Nigeria
6. There are no malaria cases in China and America
7. Recovered patients not seen on Tv
8. This is not even happening in America that has the right medical facilities
9. People that died were not less than 60 years old and they died of health complications.


CLAIM 1 – Number of COVID-19 Cases are not real

Punch reported on April 3 NCDC announced that it has 6700 cases to trace and recently the NCDC and Ministry of Health have revealed that evidence of community spread is becoming more visible.
Premium Times reported that Kano State have stopped testing as a result of exhausted testing reagents . Thisday reported Mysterious Death in Kano suspected to be Coronavirus are still being investigated.
The Nation reported that Testing has resumed in Kano today,
According to NCDC, Nigeria has conducted 7153 tests, a number that looks meager when you look at the population of the country.

CONCLUSION

Partially true. The numbers given by NCDC are most likely not accurate due to number of test conducted so far.

CLAIM 2 – There are no health facilities that can take real COVID-19 test

VERIFICATION

On February 11 before the country recorded any case of Coronavirus the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire disclosed that Nigeria has set up three laboratories in Lagos, Abuja and Irrua in Edo state to handle to test suspected patients for the disease.

CNBC reported that According the NCDC as of April 14 2020, Nigeria has 12 functional testing facilities in eight states, with a capacity to conduct a minimum of 1,500 tests per day in Lagos and 1,000 tests per day in FCT and other states.
The Punch reported that Lagos State Government has announced testing centres in 20 local governments.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as at April 23 has conducted 7153 tests.

CONCLUSION

This is totally false as Nigeria has conducted over 7000 tests

CLAIM 3 – The government is not doing house to house test

VERIFICATION

On April 10, Thisday reported that Lagos State Ministry of Health has begun house to house search for people with Coronavirus symptoms.
Guardian.ng on April 14 reported that the Lagos State Government identified 119 people who showed symptoms of Coronavirus during house to house testing.

CONCLUSION

This claim is false. House to house test is being used in Nigeria.


CLAIM 4 – Nigerians will never go to test for COVID-19 and “Over 14 days of Stay at home, no one has come to complain of any symptoms”

VERIFICATION


Life Bank opened a drive-through testing centre has conducted hundreds of tests from walk-ins.
The writer contradicted himself after claiming there was no house to house testing and later saying Nigerian don’t go for tests.


NCDC announced that tests are on for contacts of confirmed cases, residents in an area of the moderate prevalence of COVID-19 and recent returnees.

CONCLUSION

This Claim is false. Nigerians approach relevant authorities to get tested.

CLAIM 5 – There is no flu in Nigeria

VERIFICATION


In a study by Ibrahim Dalhatu, Ekanem Ekanem, et al, as far back as 2010, patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) were used to understand the epidemiology of influenza. They concluded that Influenza viruses cause ILI and SARI in Nigeria.

CONCLUSION

This Claim is false. There is Flu in Nigeria.

ClAIM 6 – There are no malaria cases in China and America

VERIFICATION


According to WHO, China has not recorded a single indigenous case of malaria since August 2016. This is a notable feat in a place where the disease has historically taken a huge toll. In the 1940s, there were an estimated 30 million cases of malaria and 300 000 deaths each year.
Professor Yang Henglin, who is now a senior advisor on malaria at the Yunnan Institute of Parasitic Diseases has been involved in malaria control for 45 years. His work directing the malaria elimination strategy in Yunnan Province has helped lead to a dramatic drop in indigenous malaria cases: from 400 000 in 1953 to zero in 2016.
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), About 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year. It also noted that a vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from countries where malaria transmission occurs, many from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

CONCLUSION

This is partly true. There are no Malaria cases in China while there are Malaria cases in the US.

CLAIM 7 – Recovered patients not seen on TV

VERIFICATION


It is taken that being seen on TV is synonymous to their identity being revealed. Recovered patients identities have been made public like the case of Oluwaseun Osowobi Ayodeji, a Nigerian activist that was interviewed by Aljazeera and her story reported by Channels Tv

Another survivor is Oyindamola Oluwaseun Ajibare, a caregiver.

CONCLUSION

This claim is false. The identities of some recovered patients have been revealed.


CLAIM 8 – This is happening in America that has the right medical facilities

VERIFICATION


According to worldometer, as at the time of this report, the United States of America has conducted 4,819,705 total tests, has 889,391 total cases, 50,370 deaths and 89,877 recovered. 

CONCLUSION

This claim is false. The US has the highest number of Coronavirus cases in the world.

CLAIM 9 – People that died were not less than 60 years old and they died of health complications.

VERIFICATION

Nigeria’s first Coronavirus death a 67-year-old Suleiman Achimugu had underlying medical conditions- multiple myeloma and diabetes.

Vanguard reported the second death of Coronavirus a patient who had severe underlying illnesses. Dr. Osagie Ehanire warned Nigerians to protect the elderly among them, as well as those having underlying health issues as they were the most vulnerable.

Punch reported that A 36-year-old died of Coronavirus complications in Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

Punch also reported the death of a 55-year-old man who died of COVID-19 complications.

CONCLUSION

This Claim is partially True. Even though Elderly men die more from COVID-19, not all recorded deaths were above 60 years old.