Trial For COVID-19 Drug Has Started In Some States In Nigeria, Says World Health Organisation

TRACKING___The World Health Organisation has said that the solidarity trial for a drug to treat COVID-19 has commenced in some states in Nigeria.

Country Representative of the WHO, Fiona Braka, made this known on Monday during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

In April, Lagos, FCT, Ogun, Kaduna, Sokoto and Kano states signed up to participate in the WHO solidarity trial to help find an effective treatment for Coronavirus in the shortest possible time.

Braka however, didn’t mention the states that have commenced the process.

She said, “The solidarity trial is a large multi-country effort that is going on across several countries globally. We are picking up on that trial in Nigeria; some states have started while some are yet to start.

“The whole idea is that the large pool of information across countries will be systematically analysed at the global level, in addition to what is coming in from the other countries. Guidance will now be provided to countries on which formulation is more effective.

“These are not new drugs that we are trying but drugs that we already have available but are simply being repurposed for the intention of determining their effect on the coronavirus. We will keep you updated on what the timeline for the vaccine will look like. But we are still early in the process in collection of the data.

“Overall, we have relatively few cases of COVID-19 confirmed in infants, children, and those that get infected experience mild symptoms.

“However, recently, we have received reports from Europe and North America that have described a cluster of children and adolescents requiring admission to intensive care units with a multi-cystic inflammatory disorder which has some features similar to those of Kawasaki diseases and toxic shock syndrome.

“The case report has described the presentation of an acute illness encountered by hyper inflammatory syndrome that eventually leads to organ failure and shock.”