The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, says it has scaled up its testing capacity for detecting the novel coronavirus also known as COVID-19 in Nigeria.
The NCDC which made this known via its official Twitter handle on Friday noted that 7153 samples have so far been tested for COVID19 in Nigeria.
“We are working very hard to increase the number of samples tested, including community surveillance in the FCT and Lagos,” the centre added.
It would be recalled that Nigeria has 12 functional testing facilities in eight states, with a capacity to conduct a minimum of 1,500 tests per day in Lagos and 1,000 tests per day in FCT and other states.
The NCDC further noted that as part of its national strategy to scale up access to coronavirus disease testing in Nigeria, it will use a multi-phase approach in 36 states of the country.
According to the Centre, the evolving strategy includes:
- Working with existing laboratories to ensure that everyone who meets the case definition gets tested.
- Expanding testing capacity to six more molecular laboratories in the country, resulting in a total of 14 laboratories in the next one month.
- Begin testing for COVID-19 in existing HIV/TB laboratories (which will also enable routine and systematic testing of health workers) in May 2020.
- Roll out mass testing to survey the population, to learn more about the virus and contribute to research and development between May and September 2020.
As at 6:00 pm 17th April 2020, 7153 samples have been tested for #COVID19 in Nigeria
We are working very hard to increase the number of samples tested, including community surveillance in the FCT and Lagos
Read our strategy here https://t.co/eckw6GeMJf#TakeResponsibility pic.twitter.com/Vrey6mXgGI
— NCDC (@NCDCgov) April 17, 2020
Source: VON
