Richard Elesho/ Lokoja
The National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has indicated intention to establish a molecular laboratory for Covid-19 testing in Kogi State. This was disclosed in Lokoja by a member of the NCDC team on a two-week official visit to the State.
The team had held meetings with the Dr. Saka Haruna-Audu, the State Commissioner for Health and his team on Tuesday. At the meeting both parties agreed to work together on how to stem the spread of the Coronavirus disease in the State.
Dr Haruna said that a lot of misinformation had been widely reported in the past concerning the pandemic in the state. Hence after weeks of discussion with the leadership of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and the Director-General of NCDC, it had resulted in the invitation of the NCDC officials to the state to have a first hand feel of the situation themselves.
The Commissioner equally talked about the measures put in place by the Governor, Alh. Yahaya Bello to mitigate the spread of the virus.
At a presentation made by the state epidemiologist, Dr Austin Ojotule, a breakdown of the state’s Covid-19 response activities from March till date was highlighted and reviewed.
In his response, the NCDC team lead expressed appreciation to the state government for the warm reception, and the effort made so far in the fight against the pandemic, adding that Kogi state is in lead position and it’s very important to them in the fight against the spread of the virus.
He added that their coming to the state was to support the incident Management structure already on ground in the state and to set up a molecular laboratory with PCR across the state to enhance testing.