Joseph Bakare
The Federal Government is about deploying 300 GeneXperts Machines, to test for the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak in the country.
Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, disclosed this at the Presidential Taskforce Briefing in Abuja, yesterday.
Giving an update on the confirmed cases; the minister said that as at 8pm, confirmed cases had hit 139 in Nigeria with two deaths, and nine discharged.
GeneXpert machines were widely deployed about a decade ago to rapidly detect tuberculosis, including milt-drugs resistant strains;
It had since been adapted to enable rapid testing of many other pathogens, including not only HIV and hepatitis C, but also influenza, Ebola and sexually transmitted infections
Ehaire said the recent inclusion of University College Hospital, Ibadan into the network laboratories for COVID-19, and ongoing assessment to include seven other laboratories in the next three weeks would enable increased testing capacity and improved turn-around time.
He said the laboratories would assist other response activities, thereby reducing the number of deaths.
He said it would be critical to reduce turnaround time between identifying a suspected case and confirmation.
Ehanire said the closure of the airports and also the land borders would reduce the number of importation of new cases.
He, however said that Nigerians should be aware that the elderly among them were particularly vulnerable groups.
Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the agency was applying containment strategy.
