We got 19 samples for coronavirus testing in five days, says UCH professor

A professor of virology at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State, David Olaleye, on Friday, disclosed that the virology department of the hospital had worked on 19 samples for coronavirus (COVID-19) testing since it opened for operations of Monday.

Olaleye said the laboratory is designated to receive samples for coronavirus testing from Oyo, Ogun and Kwara states as well as samples from other places that surveillance officers will be able to track where they have come from.

“We worked on 19 samples from Monday till yesterday and 10 on the way today (Friday),” Olaleye said.

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According to him, the results from the tests will be passed to Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the respective state ministries of health to ensure that the epidemiology and response centre can disclose the result to the individual and enrol the contacts for monitoring.

The virologist declared that the laboratory was certified to commence testing after the training and delivery of reagents and coronavirus testing protocol by NCDC.

According to him, “NCDC has a protocol that has been developed based on the original one developed in Atlanta, United States, for us in Nigeria. The training and optimisation of the avian influenza laboratory all ended over last weekend and we started attending to cases on Monday.

“There is problem with kits globally. But the genuity about what NCDC has done, which should be applauded is that NCDC developed a protocol and so no need to use test kits.”

Source: NIGERIAN Tribune