Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has said that by the end of the week, the agency would have capacity to carry out 1,000 COVID-19 tests on a daily basis.
It was gathered that only a few persons have been getting tested, even with some showing allegedly showing Coronavirus-related symptoms, because of lack of equipment.
But while responding to questions at a press briefing on March 31, Ihekweazu said “laboratories were like power plants and could not be built overnight” but the agency is putting in efforts to improve and increase capacity.
He stated that;
As at last week we are testing about 500 per day, or we had the capacity to test 500 per day. By the end of this week, we will be at a thousand per day, and next week we plan to take it to a 1, 500 per day, just by increasing the number of labs.
According him, the agency is managing and improving the supply sides of testing but at the same time needs to reduce the demand of Coronavirus test to those that really need it.
Dr. Chikwe expressed to be tested for the virus, you either have made contact with a confirmed case, respiratory symptoms, travel case or respiratory symptoms of unknown explanation.
He stated that;
This is an important message because the more people force themselves into being tested the less we have the capacity to test those that really need it. These people that really need it will be transmitting it into the community and more people will get infected.
The NCDC DG revealed that the quickest set of laboratories to convert for COVID-19 testing have been the laboratories the agency have been establishing over the last few years for lassa.
He stressed that;
That is where our molecular diagnostic capacity lies. Yes, we haven’t done enough over the last few years and now there is a need to do a lot more very quickly. Collectively, this is not just a federal government responsibility, this is a responsibility of all the states governments, and unfortunately just like power plants, we cannot build molecular labs overnight, so we are going to work extra hard.
Dr. Chikwe said the private sector is coming in and the state governments are injecting funds in the health sector in order to increase the number of laboratories that would be up in the next few months.
He added, however, that the quick solution is not a new laboratory but increased capacity in existing labs.
According to the ministry of health, there are currently six functional laboratories with the capacity to test for COVID-19.
