Nigeria: Lifebank launches mobile testing centers for coronavirus testing

Nigerian medical delivery company Lifebank has launched two drive-through mobile testing centers to boost coronavirus testing numbers in the country, according to a news report by CNN.

The test centers are built like restaurant drive-throughs, are located in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial center, and Oyo, in the southwest of the country.

Lifebank says it has launched the free testing centers in partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR).

The Nigeria Center for Disease Contro (NCDC) has tested more than 10,000 samples to date in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, and home to an estimated 195 million people according to the World Bank.

Temie Giwa-Tubosun, the founder of Lifebank, said she was inspired to start the mobile test centers when she decided that the country was not testing enough people for the virus.

"I read too much about the virus and got anxious. I realized that testing was a problem so I started to think up ways to get more people tested for the virus," said Temie Giwa-Tubosu.

"You are only selected and invited for testing if you meet the case definition for coronavirus, or if you have the symptoms. NIMR and Lifebank staff select the people who get invited for testing," she explained.

Nigeria has 1,273 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of April 26, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), the country's leading national public health institute responsible for collating data and responding to suspected cases of the virus.