The World Health Organisation (WHO) will commence trial drug testing in Lagos Ogun, Kano, FCT and Sokoto as part of the "solidarity trial treatment" for the COVID-19. This makes Nigeria among the 100 countries participating in the testings.
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire made the announcement on Monday during the Presidential Task Force (PTF) press briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja.
"Federal Government is cooperating with the WHO on treatment regimen solidarity trial with the following states enrolled; Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)."
According to the International health body, over 1,200 patients have been selected at random among the five countries in order to ascertain the efficiency and safety of the four-drug combinations.
“the Solidarity Trial will compare four treatment options against standard of care, to assess their relative effectiveness against COVID-19”.
“As of April 21 2020, over 100 countries are working together to find effective therapeutics as soon as possible, via the trial.
“The greater the number of participating countries, the faster results will be generated. WHO is facilitating access to thousands of treatment courses for the trial through donations from a number of manufacturers," the agency added.
“Until there is sufficient evidence, WHO cautions against physicians and medical associations recommending or administering these unproven treatments to patients with COVID-19 or people self-medicating with them.”
Speaking, Dr Ehanire said so far the 27,078 tests have been carried out with 4,399 cases in 34 states and FCT, adding that the ThisDay Dome 260 treatment centre at the Central Business District in Abuja by the Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) is ready for commissioning on Tuesday.
He said the centre " is fully self-contained, coming with a PCR Laboratory, a fully equipped ICU and an incinerator. This over 260 bed facility adds tremendous boost to the FCT capacity and capabilities."
While addressing the two states with no case of coronavirus, Ehanire said, "Kogi and Cross River States have not reported any cases, but we are optimistic that we can work with the State Health Ministry to validate this in due course, when we engage the state authorities.
"A team from the Ministry of Health, made up of experts from various specialties, including the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), is on standby to proceed to Calabar as soon as travel arrangements can be made, taking with them, resource to support the health system.
"Senior management of the Federal Ministry of Health and clinical case managers in our hospitals, this morning participated in a multinational teleconference with Chinese medical and academic experts in Beijing, where much insight was gained into the treatment strategy of China and other matters of common interest were discussed. The learnings from this intervention are invaluable in reexamining our methods.
"It is important that our response to COVID-19 be a concerted national, collaborative drive, to stand a better chance of being effective. So far, our efforts are yielding result as shown in states where panic and scare were initially rife, but now subsumed."
(The Nation)
