Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says 90 per cent of COVID-19 patients recover without any intervention.<\/p>\n
He disclosed this at the media briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Wednesday, while responding to a question on how Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, recovered in less than one week.<\/p>\n
He said what a COVID-19 patient usually requires is support for the body to recover by itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should remember that 90 per cent of these patients recover without any intervention. So, if you take something and say you recovered and that something is why you recovered, it doesn\u2019t quite add up. So, hopefully, there will be some treatment emerging over the next few years but remember that people recover from many viruses; that\u2019s the way it happens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are very few viruses with a cure. Even the ones that have a bad outcome like lassa fever \u2013 20 per cent of patients die from it \u2013 it still means that 80 per cent of patients will recover without any treatment per se. What happens is that the body is supported to recover on its own. So, you go to a hospital and for COVID-19, you\u2019re given oxygen. Oxygen is not really a treatment; it\u2019s to keep you alive for long enough for you to recover yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also appealed to political leaders to refrain from announcing details of COVID-19 cases in their states, and leave such actions to the experts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really appealing to our leaders across the country. Please, let the experts do the reporting. Nobody should reveal the identity of a patient, even if it\u2019s the first patient in your state. Please, do not reveal the identity of a patient; the circumstances whether he\u2019s a doctor not. We don\u2019t need all of that. This is a virus. They haven\u2019t committed an offence; they haven\u2019t done anything wrong. We have to show empathy towards all our patients; that\u2019s what we signed up to as healthcare workers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added that political leaders announcing details of COVID-19 cases is not \u201cill-intentioned\u201d, but about them \u201cnot understanding the ethics and norms of the medical practice and public health\u201d.<\/p>\n
As of 9pm on April 8, 2020, Nigeria had recorded 276 confirmed COVID-19 cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says 90 per cent of COVID-19 patients recover without any intervention. He disclosed this at the media briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Wednesday, while responding to a question on how Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo State, recovered in less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":118512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,15,9,2],"tags":[52851,49318,39911,161],"yoast_head":"\n