The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday, March 30, 2020 confirmed 20 new cases of the of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The NCDC, through its verified Twitter account, said that, as at 9 p.m., there were 131 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Nigeria with two deaths.
The centre said out of the new cases of COVID19, 13 were reported in Lagos, four in FCT, two in Kaduna and one in Oyo State.
It added that currently, Lagos has 81, Abuja – 25, Ogun – three, Ekiti – one, Oyo – eight, Osun – two , Enugu – two, Edo – two, Bauchi – two, Kaduna – three, while Benue and Rivers have one case each.
The cases reported were from travellers who have just returned to the country. Other cases are from people who have come in contact with infected people.
Meanwhile, the NCDC said it has expanded its testing capacity for COVID-19Â Â and now has six Molecular Functional laboratories in the country with the capacity to test for COVID19.
The agency said it would scale up the number of laboratories to 13 in the next three weeks.
These are in Ebonyi, Borno, Rivers, Â Plateau, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna states.
The laboratories, the centre said, would assist other response activities, thereby reducing the numbers of deaths.
It will also provide diagnostic support for a number of states in the country.
It will be critical to reducing turnaround time between identifying a suspected case and confirmation.
The centre hinted that there were no Rapid Diagnostic Test kit for the COVID-19 that have been validated and approved for sale yet.
By Abujah Racheal
