A professor of virology, Prof. Oyewale Tomori, has revealed that the deadly Indian COVID-19 variant has already entered Nigeria.
In an interview with Leadership, Tomori said Nigeria has recorded five cases of the Indian COVID-19 variant in Osun and Edo states. According to him, if Nigerians decide to observe celebrations like Sallah, the country may end up like India.
“The NCDC has discovered the India strain in Nigeria, but nobody is telling you that. This is the kind of message we should be telling Nigerians, that the Indian strain of COVID-19 is here with us.
Remember what happened in December 2020 when Nigerians decided to celebrate Christmas, traveling from one place to another and then in January we had a surge of cases and people started dying due to COVID-19. We need to learn from India. The people of India let down their guards and we all can see the consequences of their actions” said Tomori
The virologist further stated that Nigeria is not carrying out enough tests, hence the reason for the low figures of COVID-19 cases recorded in Nigeria.
“Imagine in a whole state, NCDC only reported one sample in a week. Also, in the 36 states of the federation, only three states are reporting or testing for the last two to three months. So the low figures of cases reported was because we are not testing.
There is increasing cases of people who want to travel but could not because they are COVID-19 positive. This should tell us that COVID-19 is still very much with us” he said
He commended the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 for the re-introduction of the restriction of movement and gathering to curb the spread of the virus in the country.
“This is the first time I am fully supporting the government. We shouldn’t let down our guards. I commend the PSC, they are doing the right thing for the first time and I fully support them” he said