NCDC DG: We have tested about 22,000 persons for COVID-19

Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), says about 22,000 persons have been tested for COVID-19 in Nigeria.

As of Wednesday evening, the country recorded 3,145 confirmed cases of the disease, out of which 534 patients have been discharged, while 103 persons have died.

Speaking at the presidential task force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja on Thursday, the NCDC boss said the centre’s figures shared with the public only provides information on those tested and not the numbers of tests conducted.

He said patients who tested positive for the virus undergo series of tests which are not counted and updated into the system.

“The data shared is on people tested not on tests done. The data we share when we say we have done about 22,000 tested, those are on people tested; we don’t include all the series of tests,” he said.

“Every individual that is positive will have to be tested every three, four or five days. And some would have stayed in the hospital for about four weeks, so all those are tests being done as well and all of that are on the lab.

“So the numbers are really not fully representing the works being done in the labs across the country. We are not reflecting those numbers in the numbers we share everyday.”

Ihekweazu said 21 laboratories are now operational to boost COVID-19 testing capacity in the country.

He said a new laboratory would soon be ready for use in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers, to increase the number to 22.