The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire,briefed members of the House of Representatives that the government was not ruling out the possibility of using local herbs for the treatment of covid 19. The government want those who claim to have found a cure to subject it to test by the Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
He said local herbs can be categorised into drugs that can cure the virus or those that can reduce the symptoms, adding that the body must be able to build the required antibodies to neutralise the virus.
Ehanire said: “Before now, it was said that Chloroquine can destroy the virus. But it’s still under test in that regard. We have to test the efficacy of local drugs to see if it can kill the virus and also to find out that it is in the profess of killing the virus, it can affect the body. So, the Institute will carry out the required test on the local drugs find out how it can work.”
Describing the situation in Kano as sad, he said the Nigerian government is participating in various research to find a solution to the pandemic.
He dismissed the claims that the mysterious deaths in Kano was caused by COVID-19 adding that the Presidential Task Force(PTF) on COVID-19 is still waiting for the result of tests carried out in Kano.
Ehanire said the statement attributed to the PTF team leader in Kano was completely false, the PTF will be able to make a comprehensive statement on the Kano situation once the test results are out.
He also dismissed fears that relaxing the lockdown may lead to increased cases of the pandemic as experienced in other country, stressing that the only way to have reduced figure of COVID-19 cases is for people to strictly observe all measures put in place.
The Health Minister lamented that some Nigerians were running away from isolation centres while others have refused to report themselves for isolation.
