The Honorable Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire had revealed that Nigeria now has the capacity to test 1,500 people per day for Coronavirus. the Minister made this disclosure on Thursday in Abuja during its regular briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19.
According to him, "With the expanded national case definition and addition of two new laboratories to test COVID-19 in Ibadan and Abakaliki in Oyo and Ebonyi State respectively, the national testing capacity is now projected at 1, 500 a day."
While applauding health workers and emergency responders in this critical time, Ehanire noted that about 70% of the 6, 000 contacts have been traced and efforts were been intensified to reduce the number of suspected cases who have not been reached.
Recall that on Wednesday, the NCDC activated the virology lab of the Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State which raised the number of COVID-19 testing labs in Nigeria to seven. NCDC has assured that more laboratories in Maiduguri, Kano, Sokoto, Port Harcourt, Jos, and Kaduna are in the process of been activated.
