The Federal Government, on Thursday, launched a diagnostic kit for Covid-19 testing.
The Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) extraction kit was designed, developed and validated by Nigerian scientists.
Recall that in a bid to address the shortage of test kits in the country, and ramp up daily testing capacity for COVID-19, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) began the local production of cheap testing kits.
Health minister, Osage Ehanire had also repeatedly said the shortage of reagents in the country amid a global scarcity is one of the major constraints in the fight against the deadly virus.
However the acting Director-General of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Alex Akpa, whose agency produced the kit, during the launch on Thursday said the kit would help deliver the country’s plan at scaling up testing for COVID-19,
“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.”