Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu has said 90 percent of COVID-19 patients recover without any medical 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 than one week.
The DG said the most important thing a COVID-19 patient usually requires is support for the body to recover by itself, adding that;
We 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’t 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’s the way it happens.
He stressed that;
There are very few viruses with a cure. Even the ones that have a bad outcome like lassa fever – 20 per cent of patients die from it – it still means that 80 per cent of patients will recover without any treatment per se.
The NCDC boss explained saying;
What happens is that the body is supported to recover on its own. So, you go to a hospital and for COVID-19, you’re given oxygen. Oxygen is not really a treatment; it’s to keep you alive for long enough for you to recover yourself.
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.
Ihekweazu appealed to governors in the country to avoid revealing the identity of any Coronavirus patients, notwithstanding if it is the first patient in the state.
Please, do not reveal the identity of a patient; the circumstances whether he’s a doctor not. We don’t need all of that. This is a virus. They haven’t committed an offence.
They haven’t done anything wrong. We have to show empathy towards all our patients; that’s what we signed up to as healthcare workers.
He added that political leaders announcing details of COVID-19 cases is not “ill-intentioned”, but “not understanding the ethics and norms of the medical practice and public health”.
As at 9pm on April 8, 2020, Nigeria had recorded 276 confirmed COVID-19 cases, forty-four discharged cases and 5 deaths.
