COVID-19: Why Nigeria’s test figure is low – FG

The Minster of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnibe Mamora, has explained that the number of people tested for COVID-19 disease in Nigeria has remained low because the testing method adopted by the country is not meant for mass testing.

As at Tuesday evening, Nigeria, according to official statistics had only tested 8000 people out of a population of about 200 million, the lowest when compared to some other African countries.

Mamora however explained at the daily press briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja that Nigeria used polymerase chain reaction-based testing kit and not the rapid test kit. According to him, the rapid test kit has not been approved by the WHO and that there can be marginal errors in using the kit.

He said: “The limitation we have is that more laboratories are being opened because the PCR-based testing method that we use may not give us the mass testing that we really require. We are limited because we are not using the rapid test kit because it has not been certified by the WHO. We take it as a challenge that the NCDC is working on.

“Recall that we started with five laboratories and now we have 13 PCR-based laboratories. I also recall that the Director General of the NCDC has said the challenge now is to have people coming out for testing. In spite of 13 laboratories we have for testing in Nigeria, we can test more (than we do now) if people show up to be tested.”

Mamora, however, said that recent innovation and strategies meant that more people would be tested as Nigeria moved into community transmission of the virus.