Coronavirus: Nigeria to begin conducting antibodies tests from next week

Nigeria and 6 other countries will start conducting coronavirus antibodies tests as early as next week, as part of efforts to understand the extent of the outbreak on the continent, the Head of the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong has said.

He made the revelation after all the countries made firm commitments to the project.

Asides Nigeria, the other countries that will benefit from this project include Sierra Leone, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and Morocco.

Western countries have been using antibody tests to discover how many of their citizens have been infected by the coronavirus disease, with the expectation that will help them reopen their economies, Nairametrics has said.

This new development is coming some days after the Nigerian Government started negotiations with prospective COVID-19 vaccine distributors to the country ahead of their availability.

According to Nairametrics, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has kick-started the negotiation on behalf of the Federal Government, in a virtual meeting with representatives of the vaccine candidate. He told the co-discussants that Nigeria must be given priority when COVID-19 vaccine is ready for distribution.

Nkengasong said that Africa has so far conducted 9.4 million coronavirus tests, a 10% increase over last week. These tests show whether people currently have the coronavirus disease.

Experts said that the low levels of testing in many countries mean that Africa’s infection rates could be higher than being reported.

He said that 25 African countries still have full border closures, with 23 imposing tests at entry points. He also stressed on the need to harmonize border testing and recognize certificates in order to facilitate travel.