The Kano State Government has appealed to the Federal Government to take urgent steps to reactivate the NCDC COVID 19 testing centre at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
Kano State Governor Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje made the appeal during a late evening COVID-19 press briefing held at the Government House, where he reminded authorities that the testing of samples is the backbone of the curative aspect in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease.
Ganduje, who described the situation as serious, stated that “our testing centre at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital has been down for some time and we know that the Presidential Centre has been doing all its best trying hard in order in to bring it back to operation. But this is causing a lot of problem to the people of Kano State. We ask the Federal Government to quicken and put this testing centre in order.”
Ganduje, who called on federal authorities for financial assistance, said the state will soon commence the second phase of distribution of palliatives targeting 50,000 households, estimated to cost over N600 million.
The governor also indicated that the state was in need of more isolation centres given that COVID-19 case contacts are growing in number, even as he insisted that the state’s lockdown was firmly in force and would not spare offenders.
He expressed appreciation that neighbouring states in the North have agreed to shut down their borders for two weeks, pointing out that the move will go a long way in curbing the spread of the pandemic in the region.
He said that arrangements have been concluded to establish ten mobile courts to punish violators of the lockdown order in the state.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Local Government Affairs, Murtala Sule Garo, who is the Chairman of Almajiri Evacuation Committee, told journalists during that the state has so far evacuated 1098 Almajiris to Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna States.
According to him, the Committee evacuated 419 Almajiri to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna, adding that arrangements have been concluded to evacuate over 100 Almajiris to Bauchi state by Monday the 27th.
He said the Committee collaborated with the state Ministry of Health and ensured that all the evacuated Almajiris were not COVID-19 positive.
