The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Oyo State chapter, Dr.Akin Sodipo has disclosed that Oyo State should test at least 250,000 people for COVID-19.
The Chairman who disclosed this while responding to questions on Fresh FM COVID-19 situation room programme, also faulted the level of compliance to the partial lockdown order of the state government.
He stressed further that the state had not tested enough people to determine whether it can lift the partial lockdown in the state.
When asked asked about whether the total number of tested people in the state, which is placed at around 400 people, is enough to help the state government make a call for resumption of workers and opening up of businesses, he said, ” definitely, if we are four, five, three, million and we have only four hundred people, we have not tested enough, and we can’t juxtapose from there and say we have tested four hundred and only sixteen have tested positive, that is not statistically significant.
“Ask the epidemiologist they will tell you, you can’t just say you have tested only four hundred people out of eleven million and you want to just… no, no, no, you don’t do that. It’s not science.”
When asked about the number of tests he considers reasonable for a population five million people, he said, ” looking at an African setting and our finances, we are talking about 250 – 500 thousands, if we don’t do that we are just wasting our time because we might not get enough things to plot the graph and get it”.
He, however, noted that it is not that easy because the test kits are not there and they are expensive.
He also prayed that the federal government and the whole world look for a whole world that can tell you this is likely snd thus is not likely and likely person move in to get tested.
