Covid-19: Dino Melaye Gives Palliatives To Kogi West Residents

Dino Melaye has given out a fresh batch of relief materials to help people with the present hard economic realities they are facing in this period of Covid-19 Lockdown

Dino Melaye has given out a fresh batch of relief materials to help people with the present hard economic realities they are facing.

He said the bags of rice are meant for the poor people of Kogi West as a palliative measure👏.https://t.co/mNpJl22jT0

— Legit.ng (@legitngnews) May 12, 2020

Covid-19: FG To Probe Kogi & Cross River Over Zero Case Claims

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said on Friday at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja that the Federal Government would dispatch its technical teams to validate the claims by Kogi and Cross River states that they did not have COVID-19 cases.

He said the initial team dispatched to Kogi had a failed mission because of “some differences” with the state authorities but that a fresh engagement would be carried out.

Ehanire said, “Kogi State is one of the two states that have said that they do not have COVID-19 patients. They seem to be sure of this. So, the agreement we have had with them after discussion with the governor is that we shall send a team in just to validate that fact and engage the authorities.

“Of course, we do that for national records and to be able to report to the world the situation in our country. We tried to send a team into Kogi on Thursday but there were some differences there. So, we need to engage the state governor again and state some conditions within which the ministry and NCDC can complete their jobs. We are going to send a team to Cross River next week also.”

The minister in his address also noted that a technical team deployed to Kano State by the ministry had trained 100 ambulance drivers and patient handlers as part of efforts in tackling the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister said the government was also making efforts to build the “expertise of critical care doctors and nurses to utilise ventilators and other appliances being allocated to intensive care hospitals nationwide.”

He added, “A ministerial technical team comprising of various specialists was set up and deployed to Katsina State to assess the situation and report on needed support. Also, calm has been restored in the Gombe State isolation centres.”

The minister also said government’s team was in Jigawa State on a fact-finding mission as the state battled with repatriated Almajirai, “of whom many have tested positive for COVID-19.”

Ehanire said, “On Friday morning, we deployed a multi-sectoral technical team on a fact-finding mission to Jigawa State at the request of the state governor. The challenges in Jigawa revolve around repatriated Almajiris, of whom many have tested positive for COVID-19.

“The team includes doctors and nurses, who will support the state Ministry of Health in setting up and accrediting their isolation and treatment centres.”

Covid-19, You Can't Hide it, NCDC Tells Kogi, Nasarawa, C/River, Yobe Govs

Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has said that the remaining states in Nigeria that have not recorded COVID-19 cases cannot hide it.

There are only four states at the moment that have not reported a case in Nigeria – Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa and Yobe.

According to the DG of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, eventually, it will emerge. And it is better to understand what is happening early than leave it till we start hearing stories of death.

Iheakwazu also asked states to collect more samples from people who meet the case definition for testing, saying there was no need playing with figures.

“We are looking at the number of samples collected from these states. We are not satisfied with the number of samples collected.

“We need to test more, but to test more, we need to collect more and that collection part is the responsibility of states and their Public Health teams.

“We want to really encourage every state in Nigeria, you cannot hide this. Eventually, it will emerge. It is better we understand what is happening early than leave it till we start hearing stories of death. So, we are really encouraging the Public Health Teams in these states to push out their people that have Pneumonia, acute respiratory infections and others. There is absolutely no doubt about this. 

Please, collect samples and send them to us, let us test and know whether you have this thing circulating in your states and mount an appropriate response. If it is not there, it is not there, but we cannot know if we do not test”, he added.

Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on Covid-19 and Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha on his part said; “the PTF shall continue to pursue the strategy of aggressive testing, detection, isolation, contact tracing, care and management. Similarly, non-pharmaceutical measures will be enhanced”.

“Over the last four weeks, we made appreciable progress but we are not yet out of the woods because a lot more is required to be done. Nigerians at all levels must take responsibility for our actions, adopt behavioural modification, ensure compliance with advisories and provide guidance to our followers and youths.

“The situation in Kano is being addressed very closely by the NCDC in strong partnership with the State government and guidance by the Federal Ministry of health as well as support from our development partners”, Mustapha added.