FG to dispatch experts to engage Kogi govt on COVID-19

The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said on Thursday the Federal Government would dispatch a ministerial team of experts to engage the Kogi State government on the material and technical needs of the state on COVID-19.

The Kogi State government had accused the NCDC officials of refusing to observe protocols on the containment of the pandemic when they visited the state.

Ehanire, who disclosed this during the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 media briefing in Abuja, said the committee would engage Governor Yahaya Bello and work with him and his team to create conditions with which the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) officials could complete their job.

He said the ministry had developed key performance indicators to track surveillance, strategic activities and programmes.

The minister added that the ministry would also work with states to establish protocols that would improve the communication and report on the scourge.

Ehanire told journalists that the fact-finding team that was deployed to Cross River had returned and that the ministry had been able to identify areas of need in the state.

He said the state’s level of preparedness was reasonable.

The minister said: “They have set up a committee on COVID-19 and have also started making face masks and Personal Protective Equipment.”

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He, however, said that a new medical team had been assembled to take over the management of This Day Dome Treatment Centre.

“Surveillance, contact tracing and testing capacity is increasing in all states as more laboratories are being added to our network of COVID-19 laboratories,” Ehanire concluded.

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