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COVID-19: Rights group predicts explosion on infections amidst harvest of deaths

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By Phil Okose Onitsha

A civil society organization, International Society for Civil Liberties   and the Rule of Law, Intersociety, has hint that it forsaw explosion of infections and harvest of deaths sequel to the daily spiral increase in the number of officially reported figures of infections and deaths which have more than doubled in the past in the last one week.

It said that apart from increase in ‘official figures’ of the above
mentioned, the three tiers of governments (with exception of Lagos
State) have achieved little or nothing in the past one month of total
lockdown adding, “It is not only that they cannot point to a single
milestone achieved, but also has been ‘fire brigade’ tactics including
lies, spinning and dramatization all through.”

Speaking through its Chairman, Nze Emeka Umeagbalasi, it said,
“Intersociety does not believe the ‘official’ rate of infected persons
and deaths arising from COVID-19 as given by the country’s Federal
Ministry of Health and the Center for Disease Control. Government
figures are nothing more than “figures derived from random sampling”. It is a settled formula across the world that ‘testing capacity’ including using right and adequate testing equipment and personnel is the fundamental criterion behind determination of the correct number of infected persons and categories of such infections. That is to say that “as long as citizens are not tested, their COVID-19 status must remain unknown”.

“Random sampling’ is never used to determine the correct or credible
number of the infected persons. It is therefore a settled reasoning
or logic that “the more number of persons tested, the
validity and credibility of the actual ‘negatives’ and ‘positives’. It
is unsound, unscientific and unbelievable that Nigeria which tests
hundreds on daily basis; with explosive population estimates of 200m
(three times more than that of United Kingdom) will end up producing
a total of “873” as infected persons and “28” as deaths from same.

This is more so when the United Kingdom with current population of
66.7m has been carrying out over 100,000 citizens’ tests per day.
Shocking, too, is the fact that the total number of functional
COVID-19 testing machines available for Nigeria’s 200m citizens is
under fifteen; with maximum daily testing of ‘4000’ citizens; out of
which Lagos and FCT take about 2000, while the rest of 35 States share
the remaining 2000.”

“Disappointingly and shockingly, Lagos still carries out a maximum
daily testing of hundreds, followed by FCT, while the rest of the
country have theirs in ‘tens’ since past one month. In Anambra State,
the total number of its COVID-19 tests in the past one month is under
‘50’; yet some States including Rivers State have gone to the extent of dangerously pronouncing their States as “Coronavirus free”. This is even as no single testing machine and its qualified handlers exist or reside in
such States.”

“It is therefore most likely that tens of thousands of Nigerians are
secretly living with COVID-19 in the country. In other words, the
total correct number of persons presently living with COVID-19 in
Nigeria is not only possibly to be in tens of thousands, but also with
deaths in thousands. This explains why the western countries including
the United States and the United Kingdom are busy airlifting their
nationals and diplomats from Nigeria, fearing explosion of infections and harvest of deaths in the nearest future or coming weeks.

The recent harvest of deaths in Kano is another typical example. For
over ‘150 persons’ to have been buried in three days, with the Federal
Ministry of Health and the Center for Disease Control playing to the
gallery, is very shocking and alarming; and a further confirmation of
our fears and doubts. If not COVID-19, what else would have caused same? This is even when the Federal Government deliberately failed to do the needful. The harvest of deaths should have been treated as a national emergency and the country’s Center for Disease Control relocated to the State and collected blood samples of the deceased relatives, neighbors and other close associates-who should have been located or fished out through their District Heads.”

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