Following a successful trip by a 17-man team to Calabar, Cross River State government has finally aligned with the Federal Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 response and has started reporting to the national dashboard.

Governor, Ben Ayade, had often claimed his state was COVID-19-free. Cross River, before now, was the only Nigerian state without any confirmed case of the coronavirus.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said the  interaction with the Cross Rivers State government was useful and the team was able to address all areas of concern and interest to the Federal Government and the Cross River State government: “The Federal Ministry of Health will encourage and prioritise patronage of locally made commodities, which meet the minimum specification.

“With this successful constructive engagement, I am pleased to report that Cross River State is now aligned with the Federal Ministry of Health COVID-19 response and has started reporting on the national dashboard.

“We have activated the GeneExpert machine at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital to increase testing capacity in the state and NCDC has resumed deployment of rapid response teams to provide technical assistance to their Public Health EOC to strengthen their incident management system.

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“Following the intervention of the ministerial team with the Cross River State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association officials, issues that led to the withdrawal of medical services by the doctors in the state were resolved and the strike has been called off.

“We plan to replicate this success with other states where the need for policy alignment is found wanting.”

Ehanire said Nigeria has now carried out 183,294 COVID-19 tests, 28,296 of them within the week since his last briefing; “32,558 persons in total have been confirmed positive. The high figures within the past week, compared to the previous weeks, suggest an increase in the pace of testing but also in infection incidence.”

“From reports of the activation of sample collection sites in FCT, the laboratory throughput will increase, as will the number of positives, until the curve flattens at a yet unknown time. This strategy is to be replicated in other states of the federation. Increasing bed space at State levels will continue to be advocated.