By Akanimo Kufre (The New Diplomat’s A/Ibom|C/River Correspondent)
Cross River State government has again denounced a purported Covid-19 index case reported by Prof Ikpeme Ikpeme, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) as untrue.
This is not the first time that the state will be debunking reported cases of Covid-19 as there have been controversies over its free Covid-19 status in the past.
It would be recalled that Cross River is the only Nigerian state that has not officially logged in a single case of Coronavirus till date. While the state continues to denounce reported cases, health experts including officials of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have expressed concerns over the state’s claims.
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“As a state government we have commenced investigation into this case and we will get back to the public with our findings. All efforts to identify and isolate suspected cases will be encouraged but we denounce any attempt to label CRS Covid-19 positive using a rapid antibody testing methodology. For now, Cross River State has no recorded case of Covid-19,” Cross River state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Betta Edu said.
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The CMD of UCTH, Prof Ikpeme had on Thursday 25th June, 2020 released a statement published by some news platforms.
According to the publication, Prof Ikpeme was alleged to have said: “A recent Rapid Test carried out on a patient came out positive. However, the patient has recovered and has accordingly been discharged from isolation centre last week.” The UCTH, CMD in the report also claimed NCDC has approved UCTH as an independent testing center.
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Meanwhile, the Cross River State Health Commissioner in her statement said, “an index Covid-19 case can only be confirmed with PCR and not the anitibody Rapid Diagnostic test kits which the NCDC has said has very low sensitivity and therefore should not be used for Covid-19 diagnosis as it may produce several false positives.”
However, a medical expert in Ebola and Covid-19 pandemic said, “The guidelines actually say that we should do testing using PCR, that’s the method recommended. Reason being that it has a high specificity. What that means is that if the results is positive, you’re 97-99.9% sure that it is positive.
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“And PCR is also highly sensitive. Meaning if somebody is positive it will not say that it’s negative. The Rapid has very high sensitivity but low specificity. That means it can produce many False positives. A negative person can appear positive that’s why NCDC advised that it should not be used.”
The medical expert who pleaded anonymity confirmed that for stated reasons, Rapid Test method is not approved as final confirmatory test method.
He added that South Korea uses PCR test method to test 20,000 persons per day at 633 centres Nationwide with results within 24 hours. In the meantime, the Cross River State government has continued to urge the Federal Government to assist its fight against Covid-19.
“We use this opportunity to further call on the Federal Ministry of Health and NCDC as a matter of urgency support Cross River State in the fight against Covid-19 and call all Cross Riverians to remain calm and not to panic but simply step up efforts in adhering to all safety in the state to prevent Covid-19 outbreak in the state,” Dr Betta Edu said.
