Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced two fresh coronavirus cases in Edo State.
This brings to four, the number persons so far infected in the state.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Patrick Okundia, while conducting journalists round the state isolation centre at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, Benin City, on the preparedness of Edo Government to contain further spread of the virus, said though the massage was already on the website of NCDC, there are guidelines and protocols in disclosing it to members of the public.
“I cannot officially announce that,” he said, adding that the state government had put measures in place to ensure effective action on the COVID-19 case.
He disclosed that at the moment, the state has a 12-bed facility isolation centre equipped with ventilators which before the coronavirus outbreak cost between N5-N7million but now costs N15 million each.
Dr. Okundia also disclosed that the state government was building a bigger isolation centre with a 28-bed facility.
Meanwhile, the state government has commenced training of over 6,000 medical personnel drawn from private, state and federal medical centres in the state on how to manage infectious diseases in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the state.
Speaking at the commencement of the training at the Civic Centre, Block D, Edo State Secretariat, Benin City, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Patrick Okundia, said the state government is committed to ensuring that hospital staff are well prepared for eventualities from the outbreak of COVID-19.
“We are up-skilling our healthcare workforce to manage the outbreak of coronavirus in the state. We are holding train-the-trainer (ToT) workshops targeted at updating the skill-level of workers across different medical institutions in the state to be able to effectively manage the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“This is as we are developing a uniform protocol for attending to suspected cases of coronavirus, to ensure that there would be a standard procedure for identifying potential cases,” he said.
A cross-section of the trainees said the development was highly welcome as it would boost the capacity of health workers to respond to the needs of residents in the state if the outbreak blossoms.
Recall that since the outbreak of COVID-19, the state government has taken a number of measures which were later ratified with the signing of the state’s Quarantine Regulations 2020 by the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.
Some of the measures taken include closure of markets, with only sellers of food items, medicines and other vital commodities allowed to operate, ban on gatherings of more than 20 persons, strict seating guidelines in public buses and proper documentation of passengers by transporters, checks on recent travel history of clients by hoteliers, among others.
Residents have also been urged to adhere to the precautionary measures and hygienic practices against the spread of the virus.