Nigeria to Discharge COVID-19 Patients Before They Test Negative. Find Out More
The DG of Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu revealed that symptomatic COVID-19 patients will be discharged when they stop experiencing symptoms even if they are yet to test negative. For the asymptomatic patient, they will be discharged after they have spent 14 days in the isolation center even without testing negative to the virus. However, the discharged patients were asked to continue self-isolation in their homes for about one week.
This decision Chikwe said is drawn from a Singaporean report saying that RNA detected after 10 days is no longer infectious as no viable virus is grown by viral culture.
He revealed this while speaking at a press conference recently. According to him, a lot of discussions have been going on to update the criteria for admission, management and discharge of COVID-19 patients for some time now. He added that the decision was not made my NCDC alone. Stakeholders from across the NCDC organisations, the department of hospital services of the federal ministry of health and other colleagues who are relevant to the fight against COVID-19 were part of the team.
Nigeria to Discharge COVID-19 Patients Before They Test Negative. Find Out More
In this regard, the discharge criteria is one of the major things that have changed in line with the Singaporean report.
Chikwe also said that there is no treatment yet for COVID-19. However, medications are offered to manage and support the symptoms accordingly.
Nigeria to Discharge COVID-19 Patients Before They Test Negative. Find Out More