RADIO NIGERIA
Nigeria has developed a molecular test for COVID-19 that can give results in less than forty minutes.
The Minister of State for Health, Senator Adeleke Mamora stated this at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja.
He said the test kit developed by the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research is a SARS-COV-2 Isothermal Molecular Assay (SIMA) which can be performed by a low skilled personnel with minimum training.
Senator Mamora noted that the test kit which is ten times better than the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test can be deployed to point of care, detection and surveillance.
The Technique which was developed by Dr. Chika Onwuamah of the Institute will be deployed for use as soon as it is validated by relevant agencies for specificity and sensitivity.