The Chairman, National Technical Committee on COVID-19, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has said the COVID-19 figures being released by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on COVID-19 should not be taken hook, line and sinker.
Tomori, who lectures at the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, said this on Tuesday while delivering a lecture at the opening of the Annual General Meeting of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, University College Hospital, Ibadan, chapter.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Science and Mis-Science of COVID-19’, the virologist said the NCDC had given verdicts, which contracted the reality on the ground.
Tomori, who delivered the lecture online, said some of the misinformation about the virus should be discarded.
He said, “The NCDC told us that we reached our peak in July and infection rate has been declining; we need to take this with a pinch of salt.
“The NCDC gives us figures without giving us the details of what is happening.”
The Chairman, UCH Response Team on COVID-19, Prof. Kayode Osungbade, also faulted the accuracy of the figures being given at both the federal and state levels.
Osungbade said, “Reopening the airports, the schools, the universities and clubhouses is a threat.”
He said the nation needed to be cautious so that it would not be forced to lock down again.
Another speaker, Prof. Wura Sokunbi, shared Tomori’s view on the alleged inaccuracy of the NCDC figures.
The Chairman on the occasion, Prof. Samuel Omokhodion, said Nigeria should not rush to reopen the economy because if a spike was noticed after reopening, it would still come back to have a negative effect on the same economy.
He said France and Spain rushed to reopen their beaches and the infection rate surged after that.
“I hope we will not have to go back to lockdown. It is better to err on the side of caution,” he stated.
The Chairman, MDCAN, UCH chapter, Dr Dare Olulana, said the government must be cautious in arriving at any decision on the reopening of the economy.