Nigeria’s coronavirus cases ‘could be four times higher’

A body representing Nigerian doctors believes the real number of Coronavirus cases in the country could be four times higher than the 8,733 cases confirmed by the authorities so far.

The head of Nigeria’s Medical Association, Francis Faduyile, told the BBC they are disputing the numbers being released by the authorities.

“We are worried because the number that we have declared is still a far cry from the total number we have or we expect. As it is, we know we will have nothing less than four times the total number that we have as it is… We have so many patients who have shown signs of Covid-19 and we are waiting for three to five days before we see their results. So it means we have a lot of backlog.”

There has been concern over the high number of unexplained deaths in the densely populated northern state of Kano, amid fears they could be caused by Covid-19. Grave diggers said that they were burying a higher than usual number of bodies.

A presidential task force is investigating the deaths.

Virologist Nicaise Ndembi, who is working with Africa Centre for Disease Control in terms of Covid-19 response in Africa, has said he’s concerned coronavirus could spread from Kano to neighbouring states.