Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has said that the state may record a surge in the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) positive cases sequel to the establishment of additional testing centres in the North-West state.
Ganduje stated this at a news conference of the state Task Force on COVID-19, on Friday at the Government House, Kano.
He said that plans had been concluded to set up additional testing centres in the 36 far distant local government areas in the state.
“We must open more testing centres in the 36 distant local government areas. We will keep on planning ahead, we need to be proactive.
“We will make sure that all the institutions are put in place so that when the time comes, we will not be taken unawares,” he said, adding that more efforts would be galvanized to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ganduje further said that his administration would encourage partnership with the Kano Against COVID-19, to enhance community enlightenment and other strategies in the fight against the pandemic.
He urged health workers to pay attention to other health challenges facing the people, stressing that his administration had trained hundreds of health personnel to fight the pandemic and tackle other health challenges in the state.
Also speaking, the chairman of the state’s Task Force on COVID-19, Alhaji Nasiru Gawuna, who is also the deputy governor, reminded the people that testing positive for COVID-19, was not a death sentence.
He noted that what remains important was for the people to strictly adhere to instructions given by health professionals on how best to prevent the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
On his part, the Coordinator of the Kano Response Team, Dr Tijani Hussaini, decried the non compliance of some of the suspected COVID-19 cases, who declined divulging information on their status.
Hussaini said that the Task Force was confronted with the challenge of getting some f the suspected cases to go for testing and treatment during contact tracing.
He said that some of the suspected cases outrightly denied contacts with infected persons or refused to divulge information on their health status.
