Health Minister Dr. Osagie Ehanire has asked Nigerians to report every Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) worker or health ministry workers who demands payment in the country before COVID-19 testing is done.
Reports have been circulating since last week that the Federal Government is charging as much as N50,000 for Covid-19 testing and the Minister of Health has now rubbished those reports.
Speaking at a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday 6 July, the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said that the testing for COVID-19 remains free.
“I wish to remind everyone that government-run testing for COVID-19 is free. Please report anyone who demands payment for necessary action,” he said.
Nigeria has reported a total of 28,711 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, 11,665 discharged patients and 645 deaths from 152,952 tests conducted as of July 6, according to Ehanire.
Ehanire also reported that half the total number of deaths registered so far was recorded in June alone.
“It means that just under half of the total fatalities so far recorded occurred in that single month of June. While we more than doubled the tests done and the number of cases detected.
“The reduction in case fatality rate is down to about 2.2 per cent as opposed to about 5 per cent we have seen on global average,” he added.
