The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it carried out the testing of 86,505 suspected cases of COVID-19 and recorded 8338 confirmed cases in December 2020.
The Acting Secretary, FCT Health and Human Service Secretarial, Dr Mohammed Kawu, made the disclosure at a news conference in Abuja Nigeria’s capital.
Dr Kawu explained that with a per capital testing rate of over 18,021 per million (1.8 per cent population), FCT remains the only state to attain and surpass the COVID-19 testing target of one per cent population set by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 (PTF).
He said that following confirmation of three cases of COVID-19 on on 20th March, a multi-sectoral COVID-19 Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) was activated on March 23, to coordinate the outbreak response in collaboration with partners.
Kawu also hinted that, as part of efforts to ensure effective healthcare, the administration has established seven isolation and treatment centres with 920 total bed capacity including ICU facilities exceeding the 300 bed capacity recommended.
The Acting Secretary also revealed that, the FCT activated surveillance system at point of entry with screening of over 52,161 Passengers of Interest (POIs) out of which 320 (0.6 per cent) were positive.
Similarly, Kawu said that health and human services secretariat begun 10 scientific research on COVID-19 including randomized clinical trials on drugs effectiveness and management of the virus infection.
“This will reduce the number of medical officers being released for specialist training in other health institutions,” Kawu said.
