By Abujah Racheal
Abuja – The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says mental health plays important part in the fight against the novel Coronavirus (COVI9-19) pandemic outbreak in the country.
Its Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known on Monday in Abuja at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19.
Ihekweazu said that no one could manage people in isolation without supporting their mental health.
He said that NCDC now has five key targets for the week in Lagos and Abuja.
They are: “Collection of samples from symptomatic individuals in less than 12 hours of notification of the state team.
“Turnaround time for testing and resulting in less than 24 hours.
“Testing 2,000 samples per day in Lagos and 1,000 per day in Abuja.
“Isolation of patients in less than six hours after a positive result, and isolating every confirmed case,” he said.
Ihekweazu, however, disclosed that NCDC would release a policy on face masks this week for the country.
Earlier, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information, said that fake news peddlers had not relented.
Mohammed said it was fake news that quoted him to say there was no hunger in the land.
He said that they were only bent on distracting the Federal Government’s attention from the fight against COVID-19.
(NAN)