Why corps members must undergo new COVID-19 tests before orientation – NYSC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said all prospective corps members will be tested using the new antigen-based test.

NCDC also disclosed that the process of procurement of the antigen-based test was almost complete.

The agency’s Director-General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, said, “We will test all corps members and that will enable us to keep our camps safe and also help us understand what is going on in the rest of the country.”

Ihekweazu also revealed that the federal government had launched Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) call vanguard in all the states.

Young people who are interested in IPC are being trained for self-management and self-regulation in the camps as they opened.

Ihekweazu added, “We know that corps members are normally a young mobile population. Again, we are counting on not only the young people going to camps but parents; so we need the parents to support young people to do what they have to do.

“We have been working extremely hard over the last two months with NYSC to reopen youth service camps. We have made a lot of progress to ensure that we can do that safely.”