Osinbajo: FG has activated 120 laboratories for COVID-19 tests

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says 120 laboratories across the country have been activated for COVID-19 testing, resulting in significant ramping up of Nigeria’s testing and case management capacity.

He however said the country currently had a critical situation on its hands with the rising number of cases recorded daily.

Nigeria on Friday recorded 1,483 new cases of COVID-19, taking the number of confirmed cases to 118,138 nationwide, with 94,150 discharged and 1490 deaths.

Osinbajo spoke on Friday at the Reference Laboratory of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in Gaduwa, Abuja, after a facility tour, accompanied by the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire; Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora; and the Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu.

Osinbajo said due to the diligent work of Nigeria’s health workers and experts across the nation, the country had expanded its public health response capabilities and now making progress in the public health sector after the nation’s first COVID-19 case last year.

He said, “We have expanded the footprint of our sovereign public health response capabilities especially at the subnational level and in areas where previously such capabilities did not exist. Not so long ago, test samples had to be flown out of the country for examination. This is no longer the case as we now have the capacity to process samples internally.”

The vice president observed that such an achievement should not be taken for granted, and “it is one that we are determined to consolidate on.”

He however said a lot of progress had been made since Nigeria’s first case was reported in February 2020.

He said, “This very facility is a testament to the strides that we have made during a short period. While we are not yet where we want to be as a nation, we are most certainly not where we were at the onset of the pandemic.”

The Vice President then applauded Nigeria’s public and private healthcare specialists and workers in the line of duty for ensuring the safety, cure and prevention of majority of Nigerians from the COVID-19 virus, sometimes under extremely challenging circumstances.

Osinbajo said, “Thousands of health professionals have been working tirelessly on Nigeria’s COVID-19 public health response. From the people across sample collection sites and laboratories ensuring testing, and our dedicated physicians, nurses and other health workers in treatment centres providing care to the sick, to our medical scientists that are conducting research on various aspects of this plague. We also have State Public Health Teams working hard to ensure data reporting and analysis, contact tracing, risk communications and so much more.

“Within this period, you have all worked extremely hard to activate testing in all states of our country, you have increased our knowledge of this disease, grown our capacity to swiftly identify those infected by the plague and render aid to them.

“I know that the work you do can often seem thankless and the long hours you put in unnoticed and unappreciated. Often, it happens in the background and in the shadows, away from public attention and it will not often grab the headlines. But it only seems this way. In truth, this is the sort of work that builds nations and saves lives.

“When the record of our response to this unprecedented threat to our public health is written, the efforts of our healthcare professionals will occupy a significant place with the thanks of a grateful nation.”