The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, has revealed one of the agency’s challenges, in its bid to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
In a tweet on Sunday, he said the NCDC was in dire need to stock more of the RNA extraction kits to support the expansion of its testing capacity for COVID-19.
Dr Ihekweazu specification and the preferred manufacturers of the test kits the agency needed to effectively combat the spread of the disease.
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The tweet read:
We’re desperately looking for more RNA extraction kits as we expand #COVID19 testing
Product: Total viral RNA extraction kits (preferably spin column and with a lysis buffer)
Manufacturers: Qiagen, ThermoFischer, SeeGene, Inqaba, LifeRiver etc.
— Chikwe Ihekweazu (@Chikwe_I) April 26, 2020
The NCDC boss made the demand amid the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country which has topped 1,000.
As of April 26, Nigeria has recorded 1,273 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with its death toll at 40 while 239 people have been discharged.
A total of 32 states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCCT) have recorded at least one case of COVID-19.
