Why there are mistakes in Nigeria’s COVID-19 data- SGF Mustapha

Secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, says the few mistakes recorded in the data on COVID-19 is because of dialogue approach in handling samples in Nigeria.

Mustapha, who is also the chairman of the presidential task force on COVID-19, said the process of collecting and handling the data is usually tedious and extremely careful.

On more occasions, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has admitted announcing mistakes in figures on COVID-19.

On Sunday, NCDC had said seven cases it announced from Jigawa were previously confirmed infections in the state.

At the PTF briefing on Monday, the SGF talked about the “difficult” process of handling COVID-19 samples which he saw during his visit at the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja.

He said: “First, you disinfect them because they come in different shapes. And sometimes, at the point of collections in the various states, the samples are not handled very well,” he said.

“So, you first have to reorganise them, decontaminate it, take it in for processing and sorting out. They come manually because forms are filled in the different locations where they are collected with the full details of the persons. That identification has to be given for each of the samples before it is even transmitted to where the entire processes will begin.

“So, it is a very rigorous, tedious and painstaking exercise; it is a very difficult process. At that point, you need all the diligence and concentration so that you don’t mix-up the samples.

“And to my greatest surprise, it is not only COVID-19 they are dealing with; they are dealing with different other thins such as Ebola, HIV, all manners of samples brought from all across the nation.

“Even the distinction of these different samples is a lot of hard work. So, the minor errors obviously because of the analogue system we still practise; our processes are not digitised.

“We collect manually, we fill forms with biro and paper. But as they transcend, they begin to catalogue it in a system,” Mustapha said.

Mustapha also called on states to ensure adequate security at isolation centres and in their boundaries, he also said that tend of patients escaping from isolation centres must come to stop.