By The Periscope reporter
Governor of Yobe state Mai Mala Buni revealed that Yobe was the first state in the country to send a sample of suspected covid-19 index to Abuja for test.
Buni said this while reacting to the to the statement made by the Director-General (DG) of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu that the governors of Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa and Yobe states should not hide the Covid-19 disease in their respective states.
Buni disclosed that it was on March 13, 2020 that Yobe State Commissioner for Health, Dr Muhammad Lawan Gana allayed fears over a suspected covid-19 index when a medical consultant visited the state from the United States of America, one Dr Umar and showed signs of infection. He was immediately isolated until the result of his sample taken to Abuja was found to be negative.
Governor Buni has asked the DG, NCDC to go back to the record and verify as the government in Yobe has no business concealing covid-19.
Cross River, Kogi, Nasarawa and Yobe states were the only states in the federation as at yesterday with no reported case(s) of covid-19.
However, Nasarawa state government has confirmed a covid-19 case today.
Dr Chikwe has said, “the governors cannot hide the disease” and that “eventually it will appear”, thereby “advising” them “to understand what is happening early than leave it till we start hearing stories of death”.
He further reiterated, “We are looking at the number of samples collected from these states. We are not satisfied with the number of samples collected.
“We need to test more, but to test more, we need to collect more and that collection part is the responsibility of states and their Public Health teams.
“We want to really encourage every state in Nigeria, you cannot hide this. Eventually, it will emerge. It is better we understand what is happening early than leave it till we start hearing stories of death. So, we are really encouraging the Public Health Teams in these states to push out their people that have Pneumonia, acute respiratory infections and others. There is absolutely no doubt about this. Please, collect samples and send them to us, let us test and know whether you have this thing circulating in your states and mount an appropriate response. If it is not there, it is not there, but we cannot know if we do not test,” she added.