Aloysius Attah,Onitsha
Anambra state government yesterday announced the setting up of COVID-19 task force in each of the 21 local government areas and 326 electoral wards in the state.
Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba in a statement titled –“Situation Report on the Fight Against COVID-19 in Anambra State” said the latest measure became necessary because the campaign against the coronavirus pandemic in Anambra State has now entered the phase of community searching.
He said the COVID-19 Task Force in each of the 21 local government areas (LGAs) in the state will be headed by the Chairman of the Transition Committee, and members will compromise the Health Officer, the Information Officer, the Disease and Surveillance Officer and the Ministry of Health Covid-19 Laision Officer in the Local Governemnt Area.
He said the government has also decided to set up a COVID-19 Task Force in each of the 326 wards in the state whose members shall be the Ministry of Health Liaison Officer, the Officer in charge of the main Primary Healthcare in the ward, the Youth Leader in the Ward, the Woman Leader in the ward, the Development Ward Chairman and the Councillor of the ward while both Task Forces are to take to the grassroots the message of the dangers of COVID-19 and how to prevent the spread of the contagion.
In view of the latest measures he said members of the various communities are enjoined to provide relevant information to the Task Forces in the LGAs and in the 326 wards in Anambra State.
“Relevant information includes the presence of strangers in their midst, the return of persons who have in the last two weeks been to states with high incidences of the coronavirus pandemic and individuals who exhibit such COVID-19 symptoms as dry cough, constant sneezing and shortness of breath. They may report such cases to their community leaders like Town Union Presidents General and Traditional Rulers” he said.
Adinuba also disclosed that to protect Anambra from the untoward behavior of some people who have refused to cooperate with state government in adhering to the various measures put in place to checkmate the spread of the virus, the state government has decided to set up mobile courts in various parts of the state to try offenders.
He said details of how the mobile courts will carry out their duties are being worked out by the Ministry of Justice and also disclosed that tests for the COVID-19 are now being carried out in Anambra following the approval granted by NCDC to a private diagnostic centre in Nnewi.
“It is necessary to stress that the tests carried out at the weekend are the first set of samples from Anambra State to be tested for COVID-19 in the state; hitherto, such tests were done only at the Virology Centre, Irrua, Edo State. The privately owned diagnostic centre in Nnewi, where the tests were done, is one of the three laboratories in Anambra State which Governor Willie Obiano has been advising the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to certify as testing centres for COVID-19.
“The others are the state government-owned Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital Mega Laboratory in Awka, the only mega lab in the Southeast which can test up to 500 samples simultaneously; and the Federal Government-owned Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital laboratory in Nnewi.
“At the invitation of the Anambra State government, top officials of the NCDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) visited the state on Saturday, April 28, 2020, and inspected the three laboratories and other relevant key facilities; they expressed delight at what they saw. In other words, both the public private partnership (PPP) and cooperative federalism (as opposed to adversarial federalism) are operational in Anambra State for the benefit of the people. As a result, Anambra State will begin to assist other states with COVID-19 testing sooner than many people would seem to appreciate” he stated.