Kogi govt invites NCDC on COVID-19 control

The Kogi State Government has invited the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) officials to the state to control the ravaging coronavirus.

The Hon Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Audu Haruna, made this known in Lokoja when he received a team from the Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

He said the state is set to partner with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in the governor’s effort to stem the increasing rate of infection and also curb the menace of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.

Dr Saka Haruna who welcomed the team to the state said that a lot of misinformation had been widely reported in the past concerning the pandemic in the state.

Hence after weeks of discussion with the leadership of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and the Director-General of NCDC, it had resulted in the invitation of the NCDC officials to the state to have a first-hand feel of the situation themselves.

The Commissioner equally talked about the measures put in place by the Governor, Alh Yahaya Bello, to mitigate the spread of the virus.

At a presentation made by the state epidemiologist, Dr Austin Ojotule, a breakdown of the state’s COVID-19 response activities from March till date was highlighted and reviewed.

In his response, the NCDC team lead expressed appreciation to the state government for the warm reception, and the effort made so far in the fight against the pandemic, adding that Kogi State is in the lead position and it’s very important to them in the fight against the spread of the virus.

The team lead further stressed that the lesson learnt in their earlier visit to the state had shown that the Governor is well informed and learned about the disease.

He added that their coming to the state was to support the incident Management structure already on the ground in the state and to set up a molecular laboratory with PCR across the state to enhance testing.

He, however, solicited for more collaboration and synergy between the state and the agency to Fastrack the mitigation and logical solution to the pandemic.