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Nigeria's Medical Association fears coronavirus cases in the country 'could be four times higher'

The head of Nigeria’s Medical Association, Francis Faduyile has disputed the released number of people infected with coronavirus in the country.

The association told the BBC that the actual number of coronavirus cases in the country could be four times higher than the confirmed cases by the government so far.

Nigeria has so far recorded 8,733 cases of coronavirus.

The head of Nigeria’s Medical Association, said they are concerned that less than 50,000 tests have been conducted in a population of more than 200 million people.

Francis Faduyile said “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 backlogs."

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This is coming after the northern state of Kano has been recording a high number of deaths. Grave diggers have said that they have been burying more bodies than usual. The deaths are unexplained causing fears it could be due to COVID-19

A presidential task force is investigating the deaths.

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

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