COVID-19: No State will escape — NCDC boss makes grim prediction

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have been on the receiving end of Nigerians' fury over negative statements and predictions suggesting Africa could become the epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic, and might not be able to handle the devastating effect of the virus.



Mrs Gates in particular, in a recent interview with CNN, on the novel coronavirus and its effects in the third world countries, said her heart is in Africa, and based on her experiences across developing countries especially Africa, 'its going to be horrible'.

“Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad, is because they don’t have access to many tests.

“Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets, you are going to see that in countries in Africa,” Mrs Gates noted.


According to Mrs Gates, her worst nightmare was when she “saw what China had to do to isolate enormous part of its population. My first thought was Africa. How in the world are they going to deal with this.”

“I have been in townships all over Africa and slums. When we talk in country physical distancing and hand-washing, if you live in slums who can’t physical distance, you have to go out and get your meals. You don’t have clean water to wash your hands,” she added.



This grim forecast by Melinda wasn't well accepted by many Nigerians who feel both Gates and his wife are up to something and never wish Africa well.

However, speaking earlier on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily on Thursday, the Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said that he sees no reason why every State in Nigeria won't be affected by the virus. He however, stated that the Federal Government was making efforts to curb the spread of the virus.

“We have responded to Lassa smoothly and nobody shut down the country because it wasn’t necessary, the response was fairly efficient.


“Now, COVID-19 is on a much larger scale – at the moment in 22 states but it will grow to every state in Nigeria, there is no reason why it won’t – it is a respiratory virus,” he said.

“We just activated the lab in Kano a few days ago. So, these are the results of the increased testing capacity that we are providing for the country,” he added.



“The tests are fairly robust; I can’t say 100 per cent, but they are as close to that as possible. We had the highest number of positive cases in a single day.

“Since the onset of the outbreak, we are testing a lot more (and) that is beginning to show. It is only so much we can do from NCDC; we are working with the state governments.

“They actually own the response at the state and local levels, and we need all of them now. We really have to face the reality that this is an outbreak, this is a virus.

“It will circulate in Nigeria, absolutely no doubt and our responsibility as a country is to prepare more, to be able to detect, isolate, treat, list contacts, and stop transmission.”