NCDC Establishes Five New COVID-19 Testing Laboratories

 

 

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has established five new COVID-19 testing laboratories in the country.

This is according to a tweet on the official handle of the NCDC which said the latest addition brings the number of testing labs for COVID-19 in Nigeria to 58.

“We are pleased to announce inclusion of 5 new labs in our Molecular Laboratory Network,” the NCDC tweeted.

READ ALSO: Final Testing Begins For Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine

 

 

The agency said the new testing laboratories were set up at the Edo Specialist Hospital, Benin, Edo State; ATBU Teaching Hospital, Bauchi; Rivers Indorama Company Molecular Lab;  State Specialist Hospital, Amachara, Abia and the  University of Abuja, Gwagwalada GX Lab.

‘Ambitious Target’

In late April, the DG of NCDC, Chikwe Ihekweazu, during the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja set the target of testing two million people in three months.

Ihekweazu who admitted that this is an ambitious target added that this is necessary because the best way to reduce the spread of the deadly virus is by testing more people.

 

 

“Our goal is to avoid transmission and to keep the states with no case or few cases exactly that way.

“How are we going to do this? We have learned from every country that the only way to do this is to test more people. The laboratory strategic group that is responding to this outbreak has set itself the target of testing two million people in the next three months.

“This is a very ambitious target. We are working very hard with our development partners and all our friends to equip our labs to be able to do this,” he said.

Infections On The Jump

Yesterday, Nigeria recorded 576 new cases of the novel coronavirus as hopes of a vaccine soared after a Chinese-made vaccine entered the final stage of testing in Brazil.

In a tweet via its verified handle, the NCDC put the country’s total virus load at 37,801 with 15,677 discharged cases and 805 deaths.

Lagos, the country’s virus epicentre, reported the highest number of new cases with 88, Kwara second with 87, and the FCT third with 82.

 

 

Other states with new cases include Plateau (62), Ondo (39), Enugu (28), Oyo (26), Taraba (24), Kaduna (20), Ebonyi (20), Edo (17), Cross River (16), Kano (14), Rivers (11), Ogun (10), Delta (9), Nasarawa (8), Osun (8), Katsina (3), Imo (2), Kebbi (1), and Borno (1).

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