COVID-19: Gov. Ishaku confirms six index cases in Taraba 

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba, on Monday, confirmed six index cases of COVID-19 in the state.

The governor, in a state-wide broadcast from the Government House, Jalingo, also said that the state government, with the support of Access Bank, would soon complete a 100-bed capacity isolation centre, NAN reports.

He called on the residents of the state not to panic, saying that his administration had deployed resources and manpower to trace contacts of all those who tested positive.

“We all woke up this morning to the shocking news of six confirmed cases of COVID-19 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

“These are results from samples taken from persons already quarantined by the State Task Force on COVID-19, who is presently at the state isolation centre, located at Sibre, in Jalingo.

“The persons are among the 130 interstate travelers from Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Ogun and Lagos states, intercepted at our borders.

“I, therefore, commend the proactive steps of the committee, which led to the isolation and identification of the reported cases.

“I wish to assure the good people of Taraba State that this is not a time to panic as the government is on top of the situation.

“Your protection is paramount, and we will do everything within our powers to checkmate the spread of the virus,” he said.

The governor, however, expressed concern over the reported outbreak, in spite of the robust, proactive steps taken by his administration to prevent the virus from entering the state.

According to him, “We must adopt the measures in order to save lives, and the government will do everything possible to ameliorate the sufferings of those who may be adversely affected by those measures.”

Meanwhile, with the announcement by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), that another 81 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded, Nigeria now has a total of 1, 273 confirmed cases of the viral disease.