COVID-19: Ekiti records four new cases, Katsina 12 fatalities

* Ekiti Gets Over N600m Donations To Fight Pandemic
* PTF, Kano Govt To Train Journalists On Safety Measures

The Ekiti State government yesterday revealed that it has recorded four new cases, which involved three males and one female, who sneaked into the state from Lagos, Katsina and Oyo states during the lockdown. 
 
It also said that the state has received over N600 million in donations from philanthropists and private organisations since Governor Kayode Fayemi pronounced the lockdown.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mojisola Yaya-Kolade stated this yesterday when the members of the COVID-19 task force gave an update on the spread of the scourge in the State.

In Katsina state, the death toll from COVID-19 complications rose to 12 persons yesterday as Governor Aminu Masari directed the lifting of lockdown order on Mani and Safana Local Government Areas.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, in collaboration with the Kano state government, has concluded plans to build professional capacity and pandemic preventive measures for Journalists against COVID-19 in the state.

According to the Commissioner for Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, the training programme, considered for working journalists as part of safety protocols for frontline workers in the fight against the dreaded disease, would have about100 journalists drawn for both print and broadcast media in attendance today.

Ekiti state Health Commissioner, Yaya-Kolade said though the state had discharged some patients from the isolation centre, he hinted that three of the four new cases were those that had been quarantined having come to the state from places considered as epicentre of the pandemic.

She stressed that there was no community spread yet in the state as the new cases all came from outside. “We beg our people to always alert us when new people come into town. But we are begging that nobody should come to Ekiti now; it is an executive order by Governor Fayemi. It constitutes financial burden to Ekiti for victims of COVID-19 to come from Lagos, Oyo, Katsina into our state for treatment.”

Yaya-Kolade said the government had trained a total of 80 civil servants on how to test the people using infrared thermometer. She added that a total of 234 blood samples had been taken and tested since the outbreak of the disease, assuring that more will be done to safeguard the state.

The commissioner disclosed that Ekiti had also set up a molecular laboratory within the premises of the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital. The Director General, Office of Transformation, Strategy and Delivery, Prof. Bolaji Aluko, stated that Ekiti state had received a sum of N631.083 million cash donations through the COVID-19 fund mobilisation Committee, headed by Chief Afe Babalola (SAN). 

While the new fatalities in Katsina, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), through its website, said the state now has 224 laboratory confirmed cases of Coronoavirus.

It said 183 cases were currently on admission while 29 patients had been discharged from some of the isolation centres in the state. But following non-discovery of new cases of the virus in Mani and Safana councils, the state governor, Masari ordered immediate reversal of the lockdown order in the two areas.

A statement by Secretary to Government of Katsina state, Mustapha Inuwa urged people of the two areas to continue to maintain social distancing, adhere to the use of facemasks as well as suggestions by security and health experts to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

The two council areas were locked down on the 23 and 25 of last month following the confirmation of one case each of the disease by the NCDC. With this development, 13 out of the 34 councils that had been locked down across the state have now been reduced to 11.