The federal government through NAFDAC and the Ministry of Health has granted Lagos State permission to commence clinical trials of a combination of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and Azithromycin for the treatment of the dreaded coronavirus that is currently burning through human populations around the world.
Given the success the state has recorded so far in the treatment of patients, having treated and discharged six and 10 others due to be discharged in the coming days should they record two negative tests following treatment, THISDAY has learnt.
A presidency source told THISDAY yesterday that the federal government was impressed with the state government and consequently decided to grant the approval for clinical trials of the drugs for treatment of the virus.
This is seen as a major step forward towards the usage of the drugs. It is not certain yet how the trials would pan out. But French researchers had announced last week that a combination of both drugs was effective 100 per cent cure in treating Covid-19 patients.
In a related development, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control yesterday said it has expanded the number of labs with the capacity to test for #COVID19 to 6 with the inclusion of the Virology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Ibadan
The centre in its twitter handle said: “Tomorrow, we will be in Abakaliki to set up another lab as we quickly ramp up #COVID19 testing capacity in Nigeria.” (Thisday)
