The country’s rumored COVID-19 comeback has been brushed off by Deputy Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Ali Pate, who argues there is no scientific evidence to support the claims.
Professor Pate disclosed this at the maiden public lecture series of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo in Benue State where he was represented by his Senior Special Adviser Emmanuel Oduh.
“The diagnosis of COVID is a scientific process. It is not something that is subjective and you speculate about. There could be speculations but once investigations are conducted and it is confirmed that it is not really a case of COVID, it is not COVID,” he said on Friday.
According to him, Nigeria has in the past fared well in combating pandemics.
“First, there came the Ebola virus. Nigeria was number one or thereabouts in its control. And then in COVID-19, we did not fare badly at all. As a matter of fact, our performance in spite of the status of our health sector, is among the best in the world,” he added.
The minister who tasked the first Nigeria-dedicated medical university established to train a skilled medical workforce in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, says a lot is expected from their mandate.
The school’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Innocent Ujah also said thirty consultants have been engaged to train over three hundred skilled health workers.