FG reviews criteria for COVID-19 discharge certificate

The number of tests conducted on persons infected with coronavirus (COVID-19), before they are certified to have recovered from the disease, has been reduced to one.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, disclosed this to Channels Television on Thursday.

Ihekweazu said recovered COVID-19 patients are now discharged from the isolation centres after their first negative test.

He said the decision was taken due to challenges of bed space capacity in the country’s isolation centres.

He said: “So, the discharge criterion at the moment is a single negative test in Nigeria.

“We used to do two negative tests – 48 hours apart – but because of challenges of bed space capacity, we reduced that to a single negative test then discharge the patient to another one week of home isolation … that’s the policy at the moment.”