Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, has said the rumoured resurgence of COVID-19 in the country is false and baseless and that there is no scientific research record to back the claims.
Pate gave the assurance at the maiden public lecture series of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo in Benue State, where he was represented by his Senior Special Adviser, Emmanuel Oduh.
“The diagnosis of COVID is a scientific process. It is not something that is subjective and you speculate about. There could be speculations but once investigations are conducted and it is confirmed that it is not really a case of COVID, it is not COVID,” he said on Friday.
Pate redoubled his assurance, asserting that Nigeria has in the past fared well in combating pandemics.
“First, there came the Ebola virus. Nigeria was number one or thereabouts in its control. And then in COVID-19, we did not fare badly at all. As a matter of fact, our performance in spite of the status of our health sector, is among the best in the world,” he said.
The minister tasked the first Nigeria-dedicated medical university established to train a skilled medical workforce in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying a lot is expected from their mandate.
The school’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Innocent Ujah, also said 30 consultants have been engaged to train over 300 skilled health workers.
