The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has debunked a report which claimed that it has spent one billion naira on sending SMS (text message) to Nigerians.
In a statement posted on its official Twitter handle on Thursday, April 9, the NCDC described the report as false.
The agency explained that its communication to Nigerians through SMS has been largely provided as “in-kind support” by Nigeria’s major telecommunication companies.
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The statement read: “While communication through SMS is a key part of our #COVID19 response strategy, this has been largely provided as in-kind support by @AirtelNigeria @MTNNG @GloWorld.”
The headline claiming that NCDC has spent N1 billion on SMS to Nigerians is FALSE
While communication through SMS is a key part of our #COVID19 response strategy, this has been largely provided as in-kind support by @AirtelNigeria @MTNNG @GloWorld
#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/CCr2B943FJ
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) April 9, 2020
Earlier, The Herald reported that Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General for Nigeria Centre for Disease Control revealed that 90 percent of persons who test positive for COVID-19 tend to recover without any intervention.
He made this known at the daily Press briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) in Abuja.
Reacting to reports of Oyo Governor Seyi Makinde’s one-week recovery after initially testing positive to the virus, NCDC DG disclosed majority of COVID-19 patients recovered without any treatment ‘per se’
The NCDC Boss said; “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,”
“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. 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.”