The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that mass testing for Coronavirus would not be possible for now due to the population of the nation which is over 200 million population.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, did the announcement during a news briefing after the arrival of the Chinese experts in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Dr. Ehanire said that the government was more focused on conducting tests for those who had been abroad or those who may have come in contact with any positive case. He stated that,
“We have 200 million citizens and mass testing is not something that I think is very feasible now, we are doing targeted testing.
“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, even though it is going into secondary we are doing what is called smart testing in order to identify the causes that are giving us concern.”
According to him, researches were ongoing in many countries and the government is relying on science and advice from WHO to overcome the pandemic.