LAGOS MATCH 18TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Delta State Government, yesterday debunked rumours of a suspected case of coronavirus also known as Covid-19 in Sapele area of the state.
Commissioner for Health, Mordi Ononye, told journalists in Asaba that it was a mere rumour, adding that government has already activated its alert mode to track any suspected case as soon as it occurs.
Ononye said the state government has put all modality in place to contain any incident of dreaded disease that is ravaging the global community.
According to Ononye, the Rapid Response Team (RRT), an emergency committee put up by the state government is on top of the situation.
He said the state government was working with the Federal Government, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other stakeholders to contain any incident of the disease.
Incident Manager, Emergency Operation Committee, Ann Ojimba, noted that the isolation centre of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba has state-of-the-art facilities, adding that another structure was under-construction as holding centre at the FMC.
According to her, all the 11 facilities in the state have a holding centre and as such there is no need to panic.
“The state public health centres are at red alert, we are trying to do what we call active surveillance and intensive risk communication to mitigate the incidence of the disease. We have to develop new culture, new habit of not touching our face, no more handshaking but with elbow,” she said.
On his part, Belu Abate, Head of NCDC in the state, said the government has switched from watch mode to alert mode since the first suspected case of Covid-19 was recorded in Lagos.
Also, Secretary to the State Government, Chiedu Ebie, reiterated that government commitment to the containing any outbreak has moved from the watch mode to alert mode.
“The governor is on top of the issue and I want to appeal to all Deltans and Nigerians to take necessary steps to ensure improved hygiene,” Ebie said.
Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, said the state government would continue to sustain campaign to sensitise the people on the need to regularly wash their hands.
“We advocate regular washing of hands which is cheaper to adopt in other to check the spread of the disease,” Aniagwu said.