By Grace Audu (HEALTH CORRESPONDENT) –
Nigeria has recorded 63 new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, and 11 recoveries, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 166,254 since the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020.
This was made known by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), via its official Twitter handle @NCDCgov yesterday.
It added that the new infections were recorded in 8 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The daily COVID-19 infection rate in the country has climbed back above 50 after 10 days, according to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
The country confirmed 63 new COVID-19 cases and zero coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours.
According to it, Lagos state led with 25 new infections, followed by Ondo with 22, Rivers-6, Akwa Ibom-3, Kaduna-3, Kwara-2, Ebonyi-1, and FCT-1.
“Today’s report includes 0 cases from Plateau, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Kano, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, and Ekiti states, NCDC said.
The agency noted that the country’s active caseload had reached 7,585 with 2,071 deaths recorded so far, as of May 28, 2021.
The public health agency said that the 11 new recoveries had pushed the country’s total recoveries to 156,546.
It said that the country had also conducted more than two million tests since the first case relating to the disease was announced on Feb. 27, 2020.
According to the NCDC, a multi-sectoral national emergency operations centre (EOC), activated at Level 2, continues to coordinate the national response activities.
Meanwhile, India’s top health research body, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved the use of saline gargle reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for COVID-19.
The Research body said that the RT-PCR test would give the result in about three hours.
The test is simple, fast, cost-effective, patient-friendly, comfortable and offers instant results, said a statement issued Saturday by the federal ministry of science and technology.
It is well-suited for rural and tribal areas, given minimal infrastructure requirements.
The Saline Gargle RT-PCR method for testing COVID-19 samples has been developed by India’s National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
The test does not require a swab to be collected, but instead involves a tube containing saline.
One needs to put the saline in the mouth, gargle for 15 seconds and spit the liquid in the tube and send it for testing.
“Swab collection method requires time. Moreover, since it is an invasive technique, it is a bit uncomfortable for patients.
“ Some time is lost also in the transport of the sample to the collection center.
“ On the other hand, the Saline Gargle RT-PCR method is instant, comfortable and patient-friendly.
“ Sampling is done instantly and results will be generated within three hours,’’ said Krishna Khairnar, senior scientist on environmental virology cell of NEERI.
Collection methods like nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab collection require technical expertise and are time-consuming, he said.
In the Saline Gargle RT-PCR method, the sample in the collection tube is taken to the laboratory and kept at room temperature in a special buffer solution prepared by NEERI.
An RNA template is produced when this solution is heated, which is further processed for RT-PCR, he explained.
“This particular method of collecting and processing the sample enables us to save on the otherwise costly infrastructural requirement of RNA extraction.
“ People can also test themselves since this method allows self-sampling,’’ said the scientist.
India is witnessing a resurgence in COVID-19 cases and the second wave of the pandemic has posed a grave challenge for the country. (With additional report by Xinhua/NAN)