By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
In a bid to curb further spread of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, the Federal Government has established no fewer than 34 Rapid Response Teams in 34 states out of 36 states in Nigeria. This piece of good news was dropped on Monday by the Director-General of Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu while speaking at the daily press briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the PTF member, the setting up of Rapid Response Team in each state of the federation is a major boost in the efforts to build capacity to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic frontally.
Dr. Ihekweazu also disclosed that only two states out of 36 are yet to have Rapid Response Team set up there even as he revealed that the Federal Government health experts sent to Kano state are already on the ground doing the needful. He also said that with the set up of Rapid Response Team in many states, testing capacity has increased in Kano as the state can now test over 400 persons daily. Meanwhile, Dr. Ihekweazu has called on Nigerians to cooperate with NCDC and FG to mitigate the scourge of Covid-19 by obeying all the health advisory.
On the fears of a spike in Covid-19 positive cases following reports that many Nigerians across the country failed to observe physical distancing and wearing of face masks on the first day of easing of Covid-19 lockdown nationwide, he appealed to citizens to take control. “You can do all the press briefing and give all the guidelines if Nigerians and corporate entities fail to do the needful, Covid-19 pandemic will continue to spread, it will continue unabated”, Dr. Ihekweazu said. Also speaking at the press briefing the PTF National Coordinator, Dr. Sani Aliyu, said: “We are working with partners to set up one sample testing center in each Loca Government Area in Kano state”. Like Dr. Ihekweazu, he also called on Nigerians to observe the guidelines as released by the PTF, saying that citizens should try to understand that inter-state transportation both by air and land are still banned.ReplyForward
