The Nigerian Government has revealed it plans to test 15 health personnel from China after their mandatory 14 days quarantine to ascertain their COVID-19 status.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Ehanire Osagie disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

The Chinese doctors, who arrived in Nigeria two weeks ago, were sent into seclusion.

They have had several conferences with directors, according to the Nigerian government, with experts and technical officers of the Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other relevant authorities from isolation.

Speaking at the press briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja, the Minister said, “I was reminded that the people who came from China had spent 14 days in quarantine and I ordered that the test be done. The COVID-19 test swabs are to be taken tomorrow and the test will be done to finalise if any of them has any infection.”

On the halting of testing in Kano State as a result of little or no reagents in the laboratories, Ehanire said, “As for the testing in Kano, there was a report that they had reduced availability of reagents and they were supplied that.

“In addition to that, there was a temporary halt in activities because some of the work persons in the laboratory got infected and the laboratory had to be shut down for decontamination, which was just temporary. With regard to supplies of reagents, they had been replenished. They now have personal protective equipment (PPE) and reagents.

“The role of primary health care is very important in this exercise in the sense that now we are in the community transmission phase. We have passed that era when people used to think that the coronavirus infection was something for rich people who came from abroad.

“Now that it has gotten to the community transmission level, it is really down to the grassroots, and the role of the primary health care comes into play. It is very important for them to be able to do surveillance and raise the index of suspicion.

“We are doing targeted testing, and right now, cluster testing has been very helpful in being able to identify places; that’s why you see so many of them now being discovered in the Lagos area and also in Abuja.”