A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Citizen For Citizen, has indicated plan to sponsor free COVID-19 testing exercise for 2,000 residents of Oyo state.

According to a statement issued on Sunday by Mr Taiwo Adisa, Chief Press Secretary to Gov Seyi Makinde, the proposed sponsorship is in line with Gov Makinde’s plan to conduct COVID-19 tests on at least 10,000 residents of the state within a short time.

The NGO free mass testing, known as Drive-Through COVID-19 Testing, would be executed by LifeBank- a healthcare technology and logistics company in Nigeria.

The statement further indicated that the test project is expected to screen between 100 and 200 residents daily for the next two weeks.

“The screening will commence in Ibadan, the state capital, where 11 confirmed cases were earlier detected, before similar screening exercises would be carried out in other zones of the state.

“The project, which is expected to cost around N30 million, will be fully funded by the NGO.

“The NGO is pursuing the goal of mobilising citizens across different social strata in order to create a massive pool of funds to respond to the needs of Nigeria on health, welfare and education during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement read.

On the modalities for arriving at beneficiaries of the drive-through testing, Adisa said that the Incident Manager in charge of the state Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), Dr Bode Ladipo, has identified four categories of targeted groups for the free testing.

According to him, those to benefit from the testing exercise include individuals with respiratory symptoms who had called-in to the EOC call centre help-lines and individuals who had earlier responded to a quick phone-in survey on respiratory symptoms.

“Others are individuals with mild cough and unremitting fever from any of the public/private health facilities; as well as all contacts listed on the EOC’s contact-tracing database.

“Also, all consenting Persons of Interest (POI) who have not completed their 14-days mandatory isolation, and health workers who had managed a confirmed case of COVID-19, or clients with unexplained respiratory illness, will also be considered for the drive-through testing,” he said.

Adisa commended the NGO and Gov. Makinde for partnering with the state in such a critical area as testing of samples.

He asserted that the state government remained committed to ensuring the testing of at least 10,000 samples in the state.

This will provide a scientific modelling and mapping of the spread of the disease in order to adequately contain the virus.(NAN)