COVID-19: NCDC Commences Use Of Cobas System In Abuja

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it has commenced the use of the Cobas system at the National Reference Laboratory for COVID-19 testing.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the agency noted that the deployment will enable it to conduct approximately 980 tests within 8 hours.

“Today, we began the use of the COBAS system at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, for #COVID19 testing Using this, approximately 960 samples can be tested in 8 hours,” it said.

This begins the 2nd prong of our national strategy to integrate lab systems & increase testing capacity

Cobas is a system used for a real-time test aimed at qualitative detection of nucleic acids from swab samples taken from individuals who display symptoms related to COVID-19.

NCDC explained that the use of the Cobas system is the second leg of its national strategy to increase testing and integrate laboratory systems across the country.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has recorded 195 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the country’s total infections to 1,532.

Of the new infections, 80 were recorded in Lagos, 38 in Kano, while 15 were recorded in the Ogun State.

In Bauchi State, 15 cases were recorded, 11 in Borno, 10 in Gombe, Nine in Sokoto, five in Edo and Jigawa, two in Zamfara and one each in Rivers, Enugu, Delta, FCT and Nasarawa.