Coronavirus: FG sends team of experts to Cross River

The Minister of State for Health, Olorunnimbe Mamora, says the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has dispatched a ministerial team of experts to Calabar, Cross River State, to determine material and technical needs on the pandemic in the state.

Speaking in Abuja on Monday at a briefing of the PTF, he said the team would also access the level of preparedness by the state to fight the pandemic.

He said his ministry, in collaboration with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, had developed a sub-national risk-based decision making matrix for risk assessments at the 36 states and local government areas.

“The NCDC has trained first aid workers for all religious groups in Gombe State and has also supported the screening of almajirai coming into Jigawa,” he said.

He said the PTF had commenced infection prevention and control training specifically for the almajirai in Kano State.

He added:”The NCDC is collaborating with development partners to engage influential religious leaders in Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara States to complement the community mobilization activities of our community health workers.”

He added: “The mission to Sokoto was successful and the team is presently in Maiduguri to support the state. A curious finding in Sokoto is the cluster of COVID-19 cases in only one local government area. The number of deaths has dropped and we are beginning to see a decline in positive cases in the state.”

On Kano, Mamora said mortality had significantly reduced and that government-community engagement was paying off as more people were submitting themselves for testing.

“Testing capacity has thus increased to about 660 daily from 250 last week. The ministry has directed that more test kits and laboratory consumables be sent to Kano to ensure the sustenance of the testing capacity,” he said.

Giving an update on the COVID-19 cases in Nigeria, the minister said: “Till date, 1,594 patients have been treated and discharged from hospital care. Sadly, we’ve recorded 182 deaths in 26 states and the FCT with Lagos, Kano and Borno accounting for 52 percent of the deaths. About 60 percent of all the confirmed cases are between the ages of 21 and 50 years.

 “The increased daily record is largely due to our increased tracing and testing capacity which is mainly as a result of increased community mobilization and awareness creation.”  (Daily Trust)