No approved vaccine currently exists. One is not expected to be available until mid-way next year, as researchers in the US are currently at the testing phase using animals.

Prof Maurice Iwu, who runs the Bio-Resources Institute of Nigeria, on Monday met with two ministers in charge of health and science to pitch for their support, the Vanguard newspaper reports.

He is quoted as saying that his team of researchers "identified and patented the Covid-19 treatment in 2015".

He wants the government to sponsor them to turn their invention into a drug for mass treatment of the virus.

The Minister for Science and Technology, Mohamed Abdullahi, is quoted by Sahara Reporters as saying the drug compound had been sent to the special committee on the Nigerian Academy of Sciences.

"As part of the ongoing conversation on Coronavirus (Covid-19), the FMSTNG [Federal Ministry of Science & Technology] hosted Prof Maurice Iwu, who intimated us of his drug discovery project with a potential as a treatment agent for Covid-19.

"FMSTNG referred the discovery to its special committee set up to asses such claims. [The] president of Nigerian Academy of Sciences will chair the special committee to verify these claims," he said.

Nigeria confirmed its first coronavirus case on 28 February. The patient is an Italian man who travelled from Milan to the commercial capital, Lagos. He is under quarantine in a hospital in the city.