Nigeria can now test 1,500 people a day for Coronavirus – Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire has announced that Nigeria now
has the capacity to test 1,500 people a day for coronavirus (COVID-19).

Ehanire disclosed this at Thursday’s briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.

The Minister said;

“With the expanded national case definition and addition of two new
laboratories to test for COVID-19 in Ibadan and Ebonyi States, the
national testing capacity is now at 1,500 a day. I applaud all our
health workers and emergency responders in this critical time.”

Ehanire also revealed that  71 per cent of 6,000 contacts have been
traced and they have also intensified effort to reduce the numbers of
suspected cases who have not been reached.

The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
(NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu disclosed that the health agency
has deployed officials to 15 states to boost the fight against the
spread of coronavirus.

He said;

“Yesterday (Wednesday) we conducted the highest number of COVID-19
tests and recorded the highest number of positive cases in Nigeria,”
Ihekweazu said.

“We have also deployed 15 rapid response teams to support 15 states.
This is the largest deployment of resources ever for an outbreak in
Nigeria.”

Recall that the virology laboratory of the Alex Ekwueme Federal
Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi which was activated for Coronavirus
testing, brought the number of COVID-19 testing labs in Nigeria to
seven.