By ABUJAH RACHEAL

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Monday night confirmed 20 new cases of the of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The NCDC, through its verified Twitter account, said that as at 9 p.m., there were 131 confirmed cases of COVID19 reported in Nigeria with two deaths.

The centre said out of the new cases of COVID19, 13 were reported in Lagos, four in FCT, two in Kaduna and one in Oyo State.

It added that currently, Lagos has 81; Abuja – 25, Ogun – Three, Ekiti – one, Oyo – Eight, Osun – Two, Enugu – Two, Edo – Two, Bauchi – Two, Kaduna three, while Benue, Rivers have one case respectively.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Lagos State has the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in country with 81 cases.

The cases reported were from travellers who have just returned to the country.

“Other cases were from people who have come in contact with infected people.

Meanwhile, the NCDC said it has expanded its testing capacity for COVID19 and now has six Molecular Functional laboratories in the country with the capacity to test for COVID-19.

The agency said it will scale up the number of laboratories to 13 in the next three weeks.

These are in Ebonyi, Borno, Rivers, Plateau, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna states.

The laboratories, the centre said, will assist other response activities, thereby reducing the numbers of deaths.

It will also provide diagnostic support for a number of states in the country.

It will be critical to reducing turnaround time between identifying a suspected case and confirmation.

The centre hinted that there were no Rapid Diagnostic Test kits for the COVID-19 that have been validated and approved for sale yet. (NAN)