Judex Okoro, Calabar

Cross River Government has warned the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) against importing COVID-19 positive samples to the state.

Commissioner for Information, Asu Okang, who handed down the warning during a press briefing in Calabar yesterday wondered why NCDC is in a hurry to train people in Calabar without the knowledge of the government.

Okang said: “We have received a leaked memo written to the Navy Reference Hospital informing us of the Federal Government’s intention to train experts to use the Gene-Xpert Machine that has been lying fallow since the commissioning of the hospital by the president.

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“We wonder the hurry to train people in Calabar where there is no COVID-19 case and without the knowledge of the state government.

He said if government wants to help the state, they should ask us where we need help rather than sending positive samples here in the name of training experts.

On her part, Betta Edu, Commissioner for Health, who doubles as the chairperson of the COVID-19 response team, said the state has been faring well and all health indices of the state have improved despite the pandemic.