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COVID-19: Ganduje admits Kano is in trouble, says it started on shaky foundation

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COVID-19: Ganduje admits Kano is in trouble, says it started on shaky foundation

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje on Sunday, admitted that the state is in trouble over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Governor, who made the admission at the presentation of a COVID-19 Mobile Testing Centre donated by the Dangote Foundation to the state, admitted that the state started fighting the pandemic on a shaky note due to the delay in testing suspected cases.

This, he said was responsible for the exploding number of COVID-19 infections in the state.

A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, quoted the governor as saying the absence of functional testing centres in the state worsened its situation amid the pandemic.

Ganduje said: “There is no doubt that Kano is in trouble. And there is no doubt that we started on a shaky foundation. When samples were taken to Abuja for 7 hours and came back again in 7 hours, that was the shaky foundation I am talking about.

“We then lodged our complaint to President Muhammadu Buhari, who ordered for the establishment of a Testing Centre at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, which after take-off was shut down for some days if not weeks. That was what escalated the transmission of the disease up to community transmission.

Read also: COVID-19: Presidential team raises alarm over high rate of community transmission in Kano

“But with the coming back of the AKTH Testing Centre and the addition of Bayero University, Kano that has the capacity of testing about 200 samples per day now, with the coming of Dangote Mobile Testing Centre of 400 samples capacity, we are making headway in facing the crisis squarely.”

The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, was quoted as assuring the people of the state that the NCDC will not leave them to their fate.

“I just want the people of Kano to understand that we have not left you. We are behind you hundred per cent.

“I want to assure you that, by the time we hear from the findings of Dr Nasiru Sani Gwarzo’s team from the Presidential Task Force, for the days they have been here, we will have more solutions that we will use in solving the problems from Kano”, the NCDC boss was quoted as saying.

According to the latest data from the NCDC, Kano has recorded 342 confirmed cases of COVID-19 disease.

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