The West African country reported at least three cases in recent travelers. It also initially said it had found an Omicron case from October, a statement it later withdrew.
UPDATED: INVESTIGATION: How public laboratories redirect suspected COVID-19 patients to fee-charging private labs
Contrary to the claim of the Lagos State government that residents with coronavirus symptoms can get tested for free at some designated public health facilities, residents who show up for the test are being redirected to private, fee-charging laboratories.
Despite the announcement by the
Lagos State government that residents with coronavirus-like symptoms can go to designated government-run facilities to get tested for free, these laboratories are instead redirecting patients to private laboratories where they are charged as much as N50,000 for the test.
This reporter deliberately exposed himself to cold for four days and came down with symptoms similar to those of coronavirus – cough, headache, runny nose and fever – and presented himself for testing at some public laboratories in the city but officials at the laboratories declined to test him.
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SHEHU, a social media publicist who asked to be identified with his first name did not have headaches or fever when he walked in to know his status at Thisday Dome, a makeshift treatment and isolation centre for COVID-19 cases located in Central Area, Abuja on December 4, 2020.
But when a colleague in his office tested positive, every staff in the media firm where he worked were compelled to self-isolate and get themselves tested.
At the testing centre at Thisday Dome, Shehu had throat and nasal swabs taken from him by officials of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, before he was issued a verification number and told the outcome of the test would be sent to him via a text message on his mobile phone.