Chidi Samuel| Nigeria on Thursday recorded 499 new coronavirus cases, bringing the country’s toll to 30,748 with 89 deaths and 12, 546 recoveries from the highly contagious virus.
In a statement via its verified Twitter handle on Thursday night, the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control said the new cases were recorded in 23 states and the FCT, with Lagos recording the highest figure for the day with 157 infections, followed by Edo with 59, Ondo 56, Oyo 31, Akwa Ibom 22, Bornu 21, Plateau 19, Kaduna 18, Katsina 18, with Bayelsa and FCT recording 17 cases each.
Other states with new infections included, Delta 14, Kano 11, Rivers 10, Enugu 8, Ogun 6, Kwara 4, Imo 3, Nasarawa and Osun 2 cases each, While Abia, Niger, Ekiti and Yobe recorded 1 case each.
The tweet read, 499 new cases of #COVID19;
Lagos-157
Edo-59
Ondo-56
Oyo-31
Akwa Ibom-22
Borno-21
Plateau-19
Kaduna-18
Katsina-18
Bayelsa-17
FCT-17
Delta-14
Kano-11
Rivers-10
Enugu-8
Ogun-6
Kwara-4
Imo-3
Nasarawa-2
Osun-2
Abia-1
Ekiti-1
Niger-1
Yobe-1
30748 confirmed
12546 discharged
689 deaths
-Nigeria develops, launches COVID-19 test kit
Meanwhile, Nigeria earlier on Thursday showed its readiness to confront the raging pandemic with the launch of a diagnostic kit, RNASwift, for the identification of coronavirus’ causal agent.
The new diagnostic which kit was designed, developed and validated by Nigerian scientists holds huge potentials for the country’s plan at scaling up testing for COVID-19, the acting Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Prof Alex Akpa, whose agency produced the kit, said at the launch in Abuja on Thursday.
According to Akpa, the development and validation of RNASwift was also a reflection of the creativity that has gone on in Nigerian laboratories, working in collaboration with some scientists in the United Kingdom, adding that the kit would enable the country test 5million farmers and farm labourers to ensure food security chain was not compromised by COVID-19.
He said, “The diagnostic kit is a product of cutting-edge biotechnology, which involves the exploitation of molecular biology to design, develop and validate a cost-effective but yet very top-of-the-range kit for COVID-19 testing”.
“It is important to mention that the RNASwift diagnostic kit is very accurate and sensitive.
“The validation results compare very favourably with conventional and commercially available kits for the diagnosis of COVID-19.
“This is in addition to a careful choice of reagents that are human and environmentally friendly in the development of the protocol for the diagnostic kit.
“In fact, the attributes of the RNASwift kits make it a game changer in the design and production of diagnostic kits for infectious diseases in the face of an epidemic or a pandemic.”
He said the limited availability in the country of affordable COVID-19 test kits necessitated the invention of RNASwift.
According to him, the kit will reshape Nigeria’s testing approach and bring the power of large scale and precise testing closer to more Nigerians.
“This is a giant leap in the quest to ensure that every Nigerian and indeed every African gets the best attention needed to survive the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
He said two Nigerian companies, Graeme Blaque Advisory and Cellulant Nigeria Limited provided the financial support for the validation of the kit development protocol as developed by Nigerian scientists.
The kit was jointly launched by ministers of science and technology and agriculture and rural development, Ogbonnaya Onu and Sabo Nanono.
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