DELTA GETS COVID – 19 TESTING CENTRE

Delta State Government has established a testing centre for COVID-19.

The Secretary to the State Government, Mr Chiedu Ebie, who disclosed this while inaugurating the laboratory at the Specialist Hospital, Asaba, said it would enable the government to control and scale up diagnostic capacity in the state.

Ebie said with the facility, Delta would no longer depend on the Irrua Specialist Hospital for the testing of suspected COVID – 19 cases, as such could now be handled in the state and the result received on time.

He thanked the management of Irrua Specialist Hospital and Pandora Group for deploying the laboratory to the state and called on others to partner the government in the fight against the dreaded virus.

In his remark, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye, said the laboratory was a dream come – true as the centre could run as many tests as possible.

He said the state government was doing its best in the containment of the disease and advised anyone with symptoms of the ailment to report to the appropriate medical facilities of government for treatment.

Ononye stated that Delta had recorded two deaths to the disease because the patients reported very late, stressing that the team handling the virus in the state had all the technical know-how to treat suspected cases.

The Health Commissioner said two of the cases in the state had been discharged and reunited with their families; leaving the state with three active cases on treatment.

He advised Deltans to always go out with their face masks as directed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in his statewide broadcast.
Ononye urged the people to observe proper hand and respiratory hygiene and as much as possible, social and physical distancing.

The representative of Irrua Specialist Hospital, Dr Reuben Eifediyi, said the deployment of the centre was to enable suspected cases in the state have access to medical facilities for testing before treatment could commence.

He charged residents of the state to maximize the opportunity to avert reporting to the hospital when the situation had become critical.