Lagos state, which includes Nigeria’s commercial hub and biggest city, approved clinical trial of the drug Ivermectin to assess its effectiveness against Covid-19.

Ivermectin is an FDA-approved broad spectrum anti-parasitic agent that has been shown to have anti-viral activity against a broad range of viruses including SARS-CoV-2 and potentially cut the risk of Covid-19 deaths by as much as 75%, according to researchers at the University of Liverpool.

State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said in a Twitter post that while this medication has not yet been approved for the broad treatment of the coronavirus disease, the state government has however taken the bold step of ensuring the state has adequate stocks.

Lagos is having a testing positivity rate of 24% with 9,856 active cases of the illness while oxygen demand has spiked to 300 to 400 cylinders from 70 cylinders a day as more people come down with symptoms, the governor said.

Nearly 2,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Africa’s most populous country of more than 200 million people since its first case on Feb. 27 last year. The country has recorded more than 131,000 cases.