Director General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Mr Chikwe Ihekweazu has disclosed that 90 per cent of COVID-19 patients recover without any intervention.

He disclosed this at the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 yesterday in Abuja, while responding to a question on how Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, recovered in less than one week.

He said what a COVID-19 patient usually requires is support for the body to recover by itself.

“We should remember that 90 per cent of these patients recover without any intervention. So, if you take something and say you recovered and that something is why you recovered, it doesn’t quite add up. So, hopefully, there will be some treatment emerging over the next few years but remember that people recover from many viruses; that’s the way it happens,” he said.

“There are very few viruses with a cure. Even the ones that have a bad outcome like lassa fever – 20 per cent of patients die from it – it still means that 80 per cent of patients will recover without any treatment per se. What happens is that the body is supported to recover on its own. So, you go to a hospital and for COVID-19, you’re given oxygen. Oxygen is not really a treatment; it’s to keep you alive for long enough for you to recover yourself.”

Thisday