The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has denied transporting coronavirus test samples from state to state.

The centre said this in reaction to a statement by the Cross River State commissioner for health and that of information.

The NCDC clarified that it was leading the expansion of testing capacity for COVID-19 in the country, adding that as part of the national strategy to scale up testing, it was leveraging GeneXpert equipment currently used for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

The centre said the statement by Cross River is “a misrepresentation of the federal ministry of health’s COVID-19 testing strategy and efforts to protect the health of Nigerians from this disease.”

“We would like to state unequivocally that there is no plan to transport positive samples from one state to another,” it stated.

“The use of GeneXpert will significantly scale-up testing for COVID-19 and improve turn-around time for results in the country.

“Nigeria is one of many countries around the world using the GeneXpert system to scale up testing capacity.

“This expansion process is in collaboration with the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), and supported by partners at US-CDC, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) and others.

“There are 400 sites in Nigeria with GeneXpert equipment for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.”

It explained that the centre has, however “prioritised the roll-out of GeneXpert in states where there is a high level of community transmission and states with limited or no laboratory capacity for the diagnosis of COVID-19 at the moment.”

It listed the states as Abia, Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Lagos, Enugu, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Benue, and the FCT.

According to the statement, it planed to roll out the GeneXpert testing sites for COVID-19 in every state in Nigeria.

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Covid-19:We’re Not Moving Samples State To State-NCDC