Nigeria reviews criteria for COVID-19 discharge certificate

NCDC

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, NCDC DG

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, NCDC DG

The number of tests conducted on persons infected with coronavirus (COVID-19), before they are certified to have recovered from the disease, has been reduced to one.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this to Channels Television on Thursday.

Ihekweazu said recovered COVID-19 patients are now discharged from the isolation centres after their first negative test.

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He said the decision was taken due to challenges of bed space capacity in the country’s isolation centres.

He said: “So, the discharge criterion at the moment is a single negative test in Nigeria.

“We used to do two negative tests – 48 hours apart – but because of challenges of bed space capacity, we reduced that to a single negative test then discharge the patient to another one week of home isolation … that’s the policy at the moment.”

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