The Federal Government has said that conducting mass testing for Coronavirus in Nigeria would not be possible for now given that the nation has over 200 million population.
This was made known by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, during a news briefing after the arrival of the Chinese experts in Abuja, on Wednesday.
Ehanire said that the government was more focused on conducting tests for those who had been abroad or those who may have come in contact with any positive case.
He said, “We have 200 million citizens and mass testing is not something that I think is very feasible now, we are doing targeted testing.
“We are targeting those who are likely to have been affected, so we are looking at areas and persons who meet certain criteria that we set.
“Criteria of having been abroad, having been in contact with persons who have been abroad or having been in a cluster of places where we have a lot of positives.
“Even though it is going into secondary we are doing what is called smart testing in order to identify the cases that are giving us concern.”
According to him, researches were ongoing in many countries and the government was relying on science and advice from WHO to overcome the pandemic, NAN reports.