Yemisi Izuora
The Oyo State Covid-19 Task Force has announced another positive case of Covid-19, bringing to nine, the total of positive cases in the state.
A statement by the Acting Chairman of the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force, Prof Temitope Alonge, on behalf the State governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, which was made available in Ibadan on Saturday, confirmed that the latest case is a close contact of the second confirmed case who subsequently developed symptoms.
The statement indicated that 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 Covid-19 pandemic.
“With the index case in the state already discharged, the other seven cases remain stable,” Prof. Alonge said.
According to the statement, the diagnostic centre located inside the University College Hospital has commenced full and timely testing of samples, while it is committed to a turnaround time of less than 24 hours to provide results for samples taken.
“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,” the statement read.
According to the statement, the state government has also received donations amounting to N125 million in cash and some other kind donations.
Prof. Alonge, who issued the statement shortly after the regular review meeting of the Task Force, said that the state has also concluded arrangements to decontaminate (fumigate) markets spread across the state.
He stated that the decontamination would be carried out using experts from the University of Ibadan, while the exact date of the exercise would be communicated through the heads of markets.
The statement read: “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 that 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.
“The Task Force was further alerted to the decision of Governor Seyi Makinde to roll out palliatives to residents of the state within a short while and that the Ministry of Special Duties and Women Affairs and Social Inclusion are working out the modalities for the distribution of the palliatives in a way that would ensure the people who are really in need are directly reached.”