The Federal Government on Thursday announced the indigenous development and validation of RNA-Swift, a test kit for the identification of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent for COVID-19.

It said the move was to accelerate the capacity to test people and help effectively manage the coronavirus pandemic.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, announced this during a press conference in Abuja.

He said, “The RNA-Swift has amazing precision for the detection of SARS-COV-2 and will be commercially available at a price that places it ahead of competitors in terms of sensitivity and affordability.”

The minister told reporters that in the coming months, five million farmers would be tested with the RNA-Swift kits from the first 10 million kits to be produced.

“I want to confirm to you that the RNA-Swift product team is in consultation with the African Development Bank for the funding of an African-wide testing programme for COVID-19 and the establishment for RNA-Swift production in Nigeria,” he stated.

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Nigeria has developed COVID-19 testing kit, says FG