The Federal Government has said that the nation would be among the beneficiaries, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) is set to roll out 120 million effective rapid test tools capable of providing reliable results in 30 minutes rather than in hours.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said this on Tuesday in Abuja at the joint national briefing of the taskforce.
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According to him, Nigeria is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Independence and the PTF has already announced to that testing will be ramped up through the national testing Week.
He urged the citizens to brace up for the programme and mobilise members of the community too as testing is the only way to detect, isolate, trace and treat the virus.
“Developments with testing around the world have been very encouraging as technology improves. We were pleased to receive the news of the partnership driven by the WHO to roll out 120 million effective rapid test tools capable of providing reliable results in thirty minutes rather than hours.
“It will help to reach distant communities where laboratories are not located and will help in cutting down the response time that medical personnel need to commence treatment.
“Nigeria continues to partner with the WHO and shall certainly be part of the early beneficiaries of the rollout when it commences. Nigeria is also contributing to the global effort in the diagnosis of COVID-19 through our Research Institutes led by the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research,” Mustapha said.
He noted that the NCDC has already issued an advisory on the consequences of not testing enough, saying that the numbers are dropping compare on month-to-month basis but that the nation still have to be vigilant.
According to the SGF, health is a shared responsibility on the concurrent list and as partners in the fight against COVID, and urged the states to thread on the side of caution by increasing the rate of testing.
He said, _We desire the support of institutions (religious, socio-cultural, traditional, among others) to insist on in-depth engagement at community levels, especially in observing the protocols.
Laments global deaths
Mustapha also expressed sadness that the global community has crossed an unenviable milestone when COVID-19 related deaths surpassed the one million mark.
He said that it has taken only eight months for over 33 million persons to be infected and one million fatalities to be recorded in almost all countries and territories of the world.
“These numbers underscore the seriousness of the pandemic and should help to determine how not to lower our guard,” the SGF said.
Mustapha added that with the nation celebrating its diamond Independence anniversary, the COVID-19 has made year 2020 a most significant year for the citizens and everyone need to do the needful to survive it by taking responsibility.
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