COVID-19: Ministerial Team Commends Gombe Operational Strategy in Containing Pandemic

BY ADEYEMI AKANJI IN GOMBE – The Ministerial Team on COVI-19 headed by Dr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo has commended Gombe state Government for putting in place, a robust operational strategy which has helped in checking the community transmission of the coronavirus in the state.

The team which was in Gombe on Tuesday at the instance of the Minister of Health to assess the state’s preparedness and to give professional advice where necessary, expressed satisfaction with the arrangements on ground. 

The leader of the team, Dr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, who is also the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment, during a courtesy visit on Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya at the Government House, commended the state for its timely response in containing the Coronavirus Pandemic in the State. 

Gwarzo said; “At coordination level, the State is well prepared with a formidable team comprising of people with track records and sound backgrounds on public health and infectious diseases that were assembled even before the outbreak of the Pandemic in the State which is a right step in the right direction”. 

He lauded the political will of Governor Yahaya without which the Task force will not have recorded the successes so far achieved in curtailing the spread of the virus and creating awareness on the pandemic. 

Gwarzo also observed that the proactive measures put in place by the state in imposing some restrictions and closing it borders as well as subjecting those intercepted at the entry points to quarantine, test and isolation, have greatly helped in protecting the state and curbing the spread of the virus.

He therefore advised the Government to strengthen surveillance at the boundaries considering the State’s location in the centre of the Northeast, adding that majority of the positive cases reported from Gombe State were returnees or travellers transiting through the state.

Gwarzo said that having visited some health facilities in the State, the team is satisfied with the measures put in place to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. 

In his response, Governor Yahaya said the visit by the ministerial task team will help encourage the state and put her on the right pedestal in line with the NCDC’s guidelines and International best practices. 

Yahaya attributed the recent successes being recorded in the state to the proactive measures adopted by the government, considering the sad development in some affected states.

He lamented the delay in the arrival of the state’s PCR machine after two months of procurement due to the shutdown of International airports and urged the NCDC to intervene in fast tracking the arrival of the machine so as to enable the state improve its testing capacity.

The governor said the state government is committed to adopting corrective measures and other technical advice that the ministerial task team may have come up with.

The Ministerial team had earlier met with the Professor Idris Mohammed-led Task Force on COVID-19 at its secretariat and also visited Amada quarantine zone and Kwadon isolation centre where Dr Sani Gwarzo expressed satisfaction with the serenity of the environment and the facilities put in place.

He commended the frontline workers and encouraged the health workers to continue to be humane to the patients under their care.