Godwin Akor, Makurdi
Secretary of the Benue State Action Committee on Coronavirus and Commissioner for Health, Dr. Sunday Ongbabo, has dismissed the rumour making the rounds that those who had contacts with the first Coronavirus patient have not been isolated for proper tests.
Dr. Ongbabo told newsmen in his office, on Thursday, that all the staff of the Cottage Hospital, where Susan Okpe was admitted in the first instance, including the director and the runaway nurse, have been quarantined.
He said Susan Okpe had been transferred to Abuja after necessary formalities, including documentation, and disclosed that 25 of those who had a meeting with her on the burial of her mother had been contacted for isolation and necessary tests.
Dr. Ongbabo said there was no need for people to panic over the index case in Benue, assuring that required steps had been taken to ensure that the disease does not spread.
He said the state’s isolation facilities at the teaching hospital and the medical centre were among the best in the country.
He, however, complained that some persons have made themselves harbingers of bad news when they know nothing about those being quarantined and their status.
He said as a health expert and commissioner for health in the state, his role in the action committee was to plug all loopholes, insisting that the administration of Governor Samuel Ortom has not left any stone unturned in its efforts to prevent the spread of the virus and advised the people to observe all the safety tips on social distance, use of sanitizers, face masks regular washing of hands with soap and running water.
He expressed satisfaction with the leadership of the Engr. Benson Abounu’s action committee, emphasising that the deputy governor has facilitated and supported all the professional steps taken in the prevention, control and treatment of COVID 19 in Benue state.
According to him, the state’s action committee on COVID19 has been working in close collaboration with the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC, which has already sent a professor of medicine to the state to assist the committee to realize its set objectives.
