COVID-19 has reached state of emergency in Ondo, says Akeredolu

• State records 100 new cases in eight days, 18 deaths
• Resident doctors begin strike, nurses, midwives give 48 hours notice

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has expressed worries over the rising spike in COVID-19 cases in the state, with 100 new cases within eight days.
Akeredolu, who noted that as of Monday last week, the state had 74 cases, said that 174 confirmed cases had spread across the three senatorial districts of the state.

While addressing journalists during the weekly briefing on the pandemic in Akure, the governor attributed the increase to non-committal attitude of the people to fight it. He said there were 1,052 reported cases, 1,257 samples collected, 71 active cases on admission, 18 deaths while 47 persons had been discharged so far.

The governor, who expressed the fear that the earlier confirmed cases might not be the largest victims of COVID-19 infection currently in the state, decried the unbelief and mischief by some persons who claimed that government was using the pandemic as a ploy to get money from the Federal Government and international donors, saying: “It is also unfortunate that a few dishonest people have quite wickedly attributed the campaigns by state governments as an avenue to attract financial releases from the Federal Government.

“Others have decided to wallow in self-denial by simply ignoring all conversations about COVID-19. According to them, they have not seen individuals infected and have not seen the bodies of deceased victims.”

“I believe the families of the nine precious lives so far lost and those who are on admission at our Infectious Diseases Hospital in Ondo State know better.
“They understand the pains of loss and displacement inflicted by COVID-19. They can attest to the truism of the saying that prevention is better than cure.”

Meanwhile, few days after the National Association of Resident Doctors in Nigeria (NARD) suspended its nationwide strike, resident doctors at the University of Medical Sciences Ondo (UNIMED) have begun an indefinite strike.

Chairman, Media Committee of NARD, UNIMED Chapter, Dr Taiwo Olagbe, who spoke at a press conference in Akure yesterday, said that the state government had refused to attend to their demands. Similarly, nurses at the State Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, staged a peaceful protest, which paralysed activities at the facility for hours.

Amid the increase in cases and incidence of coronavirus in the state, especially among their colleagues, they lamented poor efforts by government to carry out contact tracing of those infected.

The state Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Kehinde Nomiye and Nurse Tayo Imorua blamed government for the recent spread of the pandemic.

They said that the failure of the state government and the NCDC to carry out contact-tracing of the infected doctor and nurse at the hospital more than 98 hours after the incident was detected caused the unrest.