The Federal Government has developed RNA-Swift, a test kit for the identification of SARS-CoV-2, causal agent for COVID-19.
Ogbonnaya Onu, the Minister of Science and Technology, announced this during a press conference on Thursday in Abuja.
“The RNA-Swift has amazing precision for the detection of SARS-COV-2 and will be commercially available at a price that places it ahead of competitors in terms of sensitivity and affordability.”
The minister told reporters that in the coming months, five million farmers would be tested with the RNA-Swift kits from the first 10 million kits to be produced.
“I want to confirm to you that the RNA-Swift product team is in consultation with the African Development Bank for the funding of an African-wide testing programme for COVID-19 and the establishment for RNA-Swift production in Nigeria,” he stated.
Nigeria has confirmed a total of 30,748 cases of COVID-19 with 689 deaths.
