Nigeria has added two new laboratories that can test for Covid-19 in the country.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed this on its Twitter handle late Saturday evening bringing the total number of laboratories in the country to seven.

The new laboratories are located in Oyo and Ebonyi states. The one in Oyo is ready for operation while the other is still being set up. The test can be done in six places across the country as at this time of reporting.

NCDC in its tweet said “we have expanded the number of labs with the capacity to test for #COVID19 to 6 with the inclusion of the Virology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Ibadan.

“Tomorrow (Sunday), we will be in Abakaliki to set up another lab as we quickly ramp up #COVID19 testing capacity in Nigeria.”

Nigeria previously had five molecular laboratories with the capacity to test for Covid-19. The five were located in Lagos (2), Osun, Edo and FCT.

The new laboratories are expected to increase the number of tests done in the country and the time taken to get results of the tests as according to WHO Director General, the only way to overcome the pandemic was for countries to keep testing, treating and tracing.

Nigeria has recorded 97 cases so far and more are expected to be recorded as the government intensifies contact tracing and more testing for suspected cases.

A breakdown of confirmed cases in Nigeria shows that Lagos is the central for the disease in the country.

A breakdown of cases by states as at 10.40 pm Saturday, indicate that Lagos has 59, FCT – 16 Oyo – seven, and Ogun – three. Enugu, Edo, Bauchi, and Osun have two cases each, while Ekiti, Rivers, Benue and Kaduna have one case eachSaturday, 97 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Nigeria with one death.