Delta State government unveils 10-man team in each council, deploys medical facilities to tackle coronavirus

Delta State government has unveiled measures to contain any incident of coronavirus (COVID-19) by inaugurating a 10-man Rapid Response Team (RRT) in each of the 25 council areas and deploying medical facilities to all councils.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mordi Ononye, who was accompanied by Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chiedu Ebie, stated this in Asaba at a joint media briefing on the development and government’s commitment to tackling the dreaded scourge.

Ononye said the RRT was on top of the issue, noting that the state government would not stop any social gathering in the state, but advised that the people should exercise necessary caution to ensure their safety.

“The state government is working with the Federal Government, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other stakeholders to contain any incident of the disease,” Ononye said.

Incident Manager, Emergency Operation Committee for COVID-19, Dr. Ann Ojimba, said, “The isolation centre of the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Asaba has state of the art facilities and another structure was being constructed as holding centre in the FMC.

“All the 11 facilities in the state have a holding centre and as such, there is no need to panic. The state public health centres are on red alert, we are trying to do active surveillance and intensive risk communication to mitigate any incidence of the disease. We have to develop a new culture and new habit of not touching our faces, no more handshaking but with elbow”.

Head of NCDC in the state, Dr. Belu Abaye, said, “The Delta State government has switched from watch mode to alert mode and had sustained that to ensure that the disease was contained in case of any outbreak.

“There is no incidence of coronavirus in the state. However, we urge the media to project the right information to members of the general public that there was no cause for alarm”.

On his part, Ebie restated that government’s commitment to curbing any outbreak has moved from the watch mode to alert mode, saying, “Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is on top of the issue and I appeal to all Delta people and Nigerians to take necessary steps to ensure improved hygiene.

Speaking, Aniagwu assured that the state government would continue to sustain its campaign to sensitise the people on the need to regularly wash their hands, stressing that government was providing all necessary support and that change of behaviour was necessary to reduce contacts.

“In the event of any incident, the state medical team is on red alert to tackle such incidents. We advocate regular washing of hands, which is cheaper to adopt in order to check the spread of the disease,” he said.

He urged the media to continue supporting the state government in proper dissemination of information to ensure that the people avoid panic, as the situation was under control.