The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on Wednesday said 20 centres would be created in Lagos State for collection of samples from people suspected to have contracted COVID-19.
The NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, who disclosed this at a press conference of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said the samples would be taken to the molecular laboratories in Lagos for testing.
Ihekweazu also said door-to-door collection of samples would soon begin in Abuja. He added that Nigeria had increased her testing capacity to 3,000
At the press conference, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, disclosed that the ministry had expanded its case definition for COVID-19.
The NCDC had, on Tuesday, said the problem the country was facing was not the inadequacy of molecular laboratories, but how adequate samples would get to the labs for testing.
It said the 12 molecular laboratories in the country, which it put their capacity at 1,500 on Tuesday, were not conducting enough tests.
At the PTF press conference on Wednesday, Ihekweazu said part of the measures to contain the spread of the virus was adoption of a change in strategy after more testing laboratories had been established.
We are on Instagram @viraltrendnews
