Coronavirus: Why all Nigerians can’t be tested now

Mass testing for Coronavirus in Nigeria is not feasible for now, Minister of Health Osagie Ehanire has said.

Ehanire said this Wednesday while fielding questions from newsmen after the arrival of the Chinese experts in Abuja.

He said Nigeria’s over 200 million population makes mass testing impossible..

Therefore, he said government will continue testing those who had been abroad.

Tests will also be conducted on those who may have come in contact with any positive case.

“We have 200 million citizens and mass testing is not something that I think is very feasible now. We are doing targeted testing”, he said.

“We are targeting those who are likely to have been affected, so we are looking at areas and persons who meet certain criteria that we set.

The criteria are: having been abroad, having been in contact with persons who have been abroad or having been in a cluster of places where there are a lot of positives.

“Even though the testing is going into secondary, we are doing what is called smart testing in order to identify the cases that are giving us concern.”

He said researches were ongoing in many countries.

Government would rely on science and advice from WHO to overcome the pandemic, he said.