Nigerian Government Develops Faster COVID-19 Test Kit

In an effort to ramp up COVID-19 testing capacity, the Nigerian government has developed a molecular test kit named the SARS-COV-2 Isothermal Molecular Assay (SIMA). With the new kit the country can now reach higher daily target of testing. The minister of state for health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, who made this information known at the bi-weekly Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, said the new NIMR can produce results in less than 40 minutes. “The Nigeria Institute of Medical Research has developed a molecular test for COVID-19 that can give results in less than 40 minutes.

COVID-19 Update: NCDC Announces 156 New Cases

Nigeria on Friday recorded one of the country's lowest daily infections in almost four months with 156 cases recorded. The latest daily figure brings the total number of infections in the country to 54,743. This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Friday night.

Health Commissioner Recovers As Nigeria Records Its Lowest COVID-19 Cases In 4 Months

Lagos State Health Commissioner, Akin Abayomi, has recovered from COVID-19 after testing positive. Gbenga Omotoso, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, made this disclosure in a tweet he shared. Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced that 138 more infections were reported in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest number of Cases In Four Months.

World COVID-19 Cases Close To One Million

The world's coronavirus death surpassed 990,000 on Saturday nears one million, with the US, Brazil and India making up nearly half of the total, according to Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The United States of America remains the country worst hit by the pandemic, with 7,065,019 cases and 204,249 deaths, making up more than 20 percent of the global death toll. Although the number is likely to be much higher as testing rates in many countries remain low, with virus-related deaths not being recorded.

COVID-19 Update: Nigeria Records 143 Fresh Cases With Plateau Topping List

Nigeria's COVID-19 cases have gone beyond 54,000 after 143 fresh infections were confirmed on Monday. According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Plateau state topped the list of those with new cases for the seventh consecutive day with 35 positive samples, followed by Kaduna with 21 and Lagos with 19. Other states with cases recorded are FCT (13), Ebonyi (9), Adamawa (7), Enugu (7), Katsina (7), Edo (6), and Kwara (5). Osun State recorded three fresh cases, followed by Anambra with 2, then Kano with 2, Niger (2), Ogun (2), Benue (1), Borno (1), and Sokoto (1).

COVID-19 Could End Within Two Years - WHO

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has expressed optimism saying he hopes the coronavirus pandemic will be over in under two years. Speaking at a conference in Geneva, on Friday, the head of the health organization said the Spanish flu of 1918 had taken two years to overcome. He added that current advances in technology in the healthcare sector could enable the world to bring to an end the virus "in a shorter time" according to the BBC.