Malik Yahya/
Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, has lamented the rate of spread of the coronavirus disease in the state.
Speaking today at the inauguration of a COVID-19 mobile testing centre donated by the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Ganduje said the state was in trouble as the delay in testing suspected cases has resulted in the escalation of the number of infections in the state.
The governor was quoted in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, as saying that the absence of functional testing centres in the state worsened its situation amid the pandemic.
Ganduje said, “There is no doubt that Kano is in trouble. And there is no doubt that we started on a shaky foundation. When samples were taken to Abuja for 7 hours and came back again in 7 hours, that was the shaky foundation I am talking about.
“We then lodged our complaint to President Muhammadu Buhari, who ordered for the establishment of a Testing Centre at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, which after take-off was shut down for some days if not weeks. That was what escalated the transmission of the disease up to community transmission.
“But with the coming back of the AKTH Testing Centre and the addition of Bayero University, Kano that has the capacity of testing about 200 samples per day now, with the coming of Dangote Mobile Testing Centre of 400 samples capacity, we are making headway in facing the crisis squarely.”
The Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, who was also present at the event, was quoted to have said, “I just want the people of Kano to understand that we have not left you. We are behind you hundred per cent.
“I want to assure you that, by the time we hear from the findings of Dr Nasiru Sani Gwarzo’s team from the Presidential Task Force, for the days they have been here, we will have more solutions that we will use in solving the problems from Kano.”
The state currently has 313 confirmed coronavirus infections cases.
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