Nigeria on Tuesday recorded 276 new cases of the COVID-19, bringing the total active cases to 8344.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) made this known on its official twitter handle.
The health agency said that as of May 26, 2020, fatalities have reached 249, which means that 16 deaths were recorded in the country.
According to NCDC, no new state reported a case in the last 24 hours.
“276 new cases of #COVID19; Lagos-161 Rivers-36 Edo-27 Kaduna-19 Nasarawa-10 Oyo-6 Kano-4 Delta-3 Ebonyi-3 Gombe-2 Ogun-1 Ondo-1 Borno-1 Abia-1 Bauchi-1 “8344 cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria.
“Discharged: 2385 Deaths: 249.”
Meanwhile, as the number of infected cases rise I the country, additional two laboratories were on Tuesday activated by the NCDC, bringing the total number of its laboratories to 28.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General of NCDC, told newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja that the agency was pleased with the activation of the two laboratories for inclusion in its molecular laboratory network.
Ihekweazu said that the two laboratories were located at Afriglobal Medicare Laboratory in Ogun and the Sahel Centre for Molecular Diagnostics and Research, Katsina State.
He said that the NCDC had a testing strategy, adding that it was using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to scale for the COVID-19.
“At the moment, the COVID-19 tests that we report daily are coming from the PCR. It detects genetic information of the virus, the RNA.
“PCR tests are used to directly detect the presence of an antigen rather than the presence of the body’s immune response or antibodies.
“By detecting viral RNA, the tests can tell whether or not someone has the virus very early,” he said.
It would be recalled that NCDC has more than one laboratory in some states such as Edo, Lagos and Kano.
The existing laboratories are at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, FCT; Defence Reference Laboratory, FCT; Virology Laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Biosafety Level-3 Laboratory, Lagos State, and Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Edo.
The others are at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos State, Virology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Oyo State.
Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, and African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Osun.
The health agency also has laboratories at the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Plateau; Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano State; DNA Laboratory, Kaduna State; University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Centre for Advanced Medical Research and Training, Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, and Africa Centre of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology, Ahamadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State.
Other laboratories are located at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research, Bayero University Kano; 54gene mobile laboratory, Ogun; 54gene mobile laboratory, Lagos State; 54gene mobile laboratory, Kano State; Mobile laboratory, Delta State; University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, Satelite Molecular Laboratory, and University of Benin Teaching Hospital.
