COVID-19: Oyo Records 9 Cases, Plans Markets’ Fumigation
- Receives N125m cash, material donations
BY SEGUN ADEBAYO – The Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force says the South West state now has a total of nine confirmed positive cases arising from the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Acting Chairman of the State COVID-19 Task Force, Professor Temitope Alonge, said on Saturday that the latest case is a close contact of the second confirmed patient who subsequently developed symptoms days after.
In a statement issued on behalf Governor Seyi Makinde and made available to the media in Ibadan, Prof Alonge said the patient has been moved to one of the isolation centres in the state, while activities at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) are being ramped up and reviewed to meet the evolving nature of the pandemic.
“With the index case in the state already discharged, the other seven cases remain stable,” Prof. Alonge said, adding that the Diagnostic centre at the University College Hospital has commenced full and timely testing of samples.
He said the Centre is fully committed to a turnaround time of less than 24 hours to provide results for all samples taken from suspected cases.
According to the statement, “His Excellency is pleased at the progress that has been made at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Olodo, Ibadan with the training of key personnel and the readiness of the centre to receive patients starting from Monday the April 6,, 2020.”
The statement also disclosed that the State government has already received donations amounting to N125 million in cash and some materials contributions from well-meaning individuals, groups and organisations
Prof Alonge, who issued the statement shortly after the Task Force’s regular review meeting, said the government has also concluded arrangements to decontaminate (fumigate) markets spread across the State.
Consequently, the exercise would be undertaken by experts from the University of Ibadan, with the exact date communicated through the heads of various markets’ associations soon.
On other measures by government to mitigate the spread of coronavirus in the State, Prof Alonge said; “The Task Force was also briefed about the School-on-Air programme designed to fill the gap for students in SS3, which is being supported by Telecommunications giant, Airtel with a donation of 500mb of data to each participating student.
“The Commissioner for Education, Barr Olasunkanmi Olaleye, who briefed the Task Force, said the programme being run on the radio and television channels of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), was already reaching between 60 and 70 percent of the student population.”
He said the Task Force was further alerted on the Governor’s decision to roll out palliatives for Oyo State residents soon, adding that the Ministry of Special Duties and Women Affairs and Social Inclusion are working out modalities for distributing the palliatives to ensure “people who are really in need are directly reached.”
