PDP Reps caucus decries slow pace of COVID-19 test

The Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) led Minority Caucus leadership in the House of Representatives has described the 2,000 COVID-19 tests carried out in Nigeria as grossly insufficient as the country records more positive cases of the disease. This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu). According to […]

The Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) led Minority Caucus leadership in the House of Representatives has described the 2,000 COVID-19 tests carried out in Nigeria as grossly insufficient as the country records more positive cases of the disease.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu (PDP, Enugu).

According to the statement, while the lockdown in many parts of the country kept people indoors and government tried to track over 6,000 contacts of positive cases, it should also ramp up its testing capability beyond the current seven test centres.

The caucus therefore called for the upgrade of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) laboratories across the country to facilitate mass-testing for the virus.

“The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has told us that only 2,000 Nigerians have been tested in over one month of combating COVID-19. This figure is quite low for a country of about 200 million people.

“Our first line of responsibility on this, therefore, is to ensure that testing services are available in, at least, all the states of the federation. If we are tracking over 6,000 contacts, then we need more testing facilities,” the caucus said.