Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State says the state is facing serious Community Infection of the Novel Coronavirus which requires urgent attention.
Governor Ganduje expressed fear of the outbreak threat to many more lives when he received the presidential taskforce on COVID-19 in the state.
“We are facing challenges from all angles that require serious attention, particularly the recent understanding that we are facing community transmission”.
Ganduje explained that despite a number of measures established to curb the fast spread of the disease, the state government was still battling with cultural and traditional misconceptions on the reality of the virus.
While applauding President Muhammad Buhari’s total lockdown directive on Kano, the governor said that the enforcement of the total lockdown should have cut across the federation to attain maximum results.
Ganduje believed that though shutting the entire country may further trigger an economic crisis, he explained that such a painful decision can only yield positive results.
The Governor who worried over the continued closure of the NCDC test centre in Kano noted that the long term implication of the absence of a test centre may jeopardize moderate successes already recorded in the state.
” Let me welcome the presidential taskforce and the president for the timely intervention. The state will work fully with you to get rid of the virus in the state. There is no gainsaying we do not have the cognitive experience in dealing with the current challenge. We hope your presence here will fortify our efforts.
” We have put in place preventive, curative and palliative measures to deal with the challenge. We have three isolation centres with quality experts and health workers.
” But with the shut down of NCDC test centre, our efforts may not yield positive results. And on the lockdown, we need the full presence of security agencies to enforce full restrictions of movement. Yet we have to take care of our security personnel and health workers to motivate them. With this, we need the support of the federal government”. Ganduje said.
The governor suggested that there was a need to establish testing centers in all the 44 local government areas of the State