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COVID-19: NCDC equips testing centres in Ibadan, Abakaliki as figures rises

Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon
COVID-19: NCDC equips testing centres in Ibadan, Abakaliki as figures continue to rise, CBN discloses conditions to assess N100b facility, identifies problems in processing facility

In response to the fast-rising number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has expanded the number of laboratories with the capacity to conduct the test.

With the expansion, the Virology laboratory of the University College, Ibadan is now among the testing centres for the coronavirus infection in Nigeria.

 

According to a tweet on its official twitter handle @NCDCgov, NCDC also revealed that plans have been concluded to set up a centre in Abakaliki to serve the states in the southeastern region of the country.

In a related development, the Lagos state government has taken delivery of a new isolation and treatment centre at Mobolaji Johnson Arena, formerly Onikan Stadium in Lagos island.

(READ MORE: COVID-19: Total lockdown imminent as Lagos fears confirmed cases could hit 39,000)

The 110-bed facility comes as part of support from a private organisation to aid the government’s efforts to curb the COVI-19 pandemic.

Why this matters: The Minister of health, Osagie Ehanire, had said during a press briefing on March 6 that the testing centres in the country were restricted to Lagos and Abuja due to the paucity of resources, giving the assurance that when the need arose, the NCDC would equip more testing centres in other parts of the country.

Jack Ma, Co-founder of Alibaba had donated medical supplies to Nigeria and other African countries to aid the countries in their fight to combat and put an end to the spread of the novel virus.

Since the arrival of the medical supplies on Tuesday, the number of tests carried out has increased, leading to the confirmation of more cases across the country.

(READ MORE: COVID-19: Western diplomats warn of disease explosion, poor handling by government)

By 10:40 pm on Saturday, March 28, the NCDC had reported eight new confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, bring the total cases to 97 with 1 death recorded.

Of the 8 cases, 2 were in FCT, 4 in Oyo state, 1 in Kaduna state and 1 in Osun State.

The breakdown of the cases so far as given on the NCDC website is as follows; Lagos currently has 59 cases, FCT – 16, Ogun – 3, Enugu – 2, Ekiti – 1, Oyo – 7, Edo – 2, Bauchi – 2, Osun – 2, Rivers – 1, Kaduna– 1, and Benue – 1.

 

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