In a move to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus, persons with acute respiratory symptoms in Lagos and Abuja communities are to be contacted directly by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The agency described the move as part of its efforts to contain community spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
It said officials would be deployed in the two city centres to begin door-to-door collection of samples.
According to NCDC Director-General Chikwe Ihekweazu, the step will eliminate the bottlenecks in testing capacity for (COVID-19), as samples will now be collected from the right persons and getting it into the labs for testing.
Dr. Ihekweazu, who spoke at the daily briefing Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja yesterday, said the NCDC now has the capacity to carry out 3,000 COVID-19 tests daily.
He attributed the feat to the activation of more testing laboratories to increase them to 13.
The NCDC boss said: “We are really trying to change our strategy now and test more people. We are setting up 20 healthcare facilities in Lagos and supporting the state in doing this. This is done by the government of Lagos State to collect samples from people that have acute respiratory infection and fever.
“Also, we are intensifying our surveillance in health care centres around the FCT to collect samples from people with acute respiratory infections.
“In certain communities in Abuja, we are going door-to-door to collect samples from people with acute respiratory infection. We are doing the same in Lagos.
“So, in these two states where there are high incidents of infection, we are now strengthening our surveillance and going to the patients to collect these samples.
“The call centres have improved dramatically. So, we are also urging members of the public that think they have acute respiratory infection to call us, we will send the team to them. Please don’t go yourself, and if you are going, go to one of these 20 health facilities.
“Don’t go to any other centre. We will announce them as they are setup; Lagos State will announce them and then, make them accessible to everyone.”