Covid-19: NCDC Fails To Meet 2m Testing Target

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has failed to meet testing target of two million samples by July.

The centre had on April 28 said it was targeting to test two million Nigerians in three months.

”The NCDC Laboratory Strategic Group has set itself a target of testing two million people across Nigeria in the next three months,” the DG,Chikwe Ihekweazu had said during the presidential briefings.

The target was expected to be met between May and July 2020, to bridge the gap in testing capacity and in containing the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Statistics from the NCDC ”Situation report 150” as of 27th July 2020, however showed that only 267,842 samples have been tested in a population of over 200 million across the 36 states of the federal and the FCT

With 59 testing laboratories, the centre is far from reaching its target as it is still short of meeting its target by 1,732,158 tests.

On March 31, the Nigerian government said the national testing capacity would be increased from 500 to 1,500 to expand coverage.

The country has, however, been able to meet daily target as it currently conducts about 1,500 to 3, 000 tests per day across the molecular laboratories