The Bayelsa State Task Force on COVID-19 has said that 140 blood samples sent to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)-approved laboratory in Edo State between March and April 2020 had all tested negative.
The co-Chairman of the state task force on COVID-19, Dr. Inodu Apoku, who disclosed this during a media briefing in Yenagoa, the state capital, said that surveillance is ongoing in the eight local councils of the state.
Apoku, who is also the Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Health, said that the state government had been working to set up a COVID-19 reference laboratory in the state.
He noted that over 200,000 persons screened at the point of entry into the state had not shown any significant symptoms of concerns as regarding Coronavirus.
The permanent secretary said the state task force had also formed the local council task force in all the eight local councils of the state to handle the community mobilisation and enlightenment campaigns in rural and riverine communities.