LAGOS, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Nigeria is considering partnerships between state governments and private firms to ramp up testing and tracing of coronavirus cases after international flights resume this month, the head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said.
Nigeria will reopen its airports for international flights from Aug. 29. They have been closed since March 23 to all but essential overseas flights to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa’s most populous country.
Lagos, Nigeria’s largest state and epicentre of its outbreak, has 200 tracers for a population of 25 million – fewer than one per 100,000 people, compared with around 14 per 100,000 in Turkey for example. “Private-public models are being looked at. Lagos and Abuja are the primary locations, and from that we’ll learn what to do for the other three international airports,” Ihekweazu told Reuters in a telephone interview. He did not disclose the companies involved.
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