Gov. Darius Ishaku of Taraba, on Monday, confirmed six index cases of COVID-19 in the state.
The governor, in a state-wide broadcast from the Government House, Jalingo, also said that the state government, with the support of Access Bank, would soon complete a 100-bed capacity isolation centre.
Although Ishaku expressed worries over the development, he, however, assured the people of the state of his administration’s commitment to protecting them against further spread of the pandemic within the limits of the available resources.
He called on the residents of the state not to panic, saying that his administration had deployed resources and manpower to trace contacts of all those who tested positive.
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“We all woke up this morning to the shocking news of six confirmed cases of COVID-19 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“These are results from samples taken from persons already quarantined by the State Task Force on COVID-19, who is presently at the state isolation centre, located at Sibre in Jalingo.
“The persons are among the 130 interstate travellers from Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Ogun and Lagos states, intercepted at our borders.
“I, therefore, commend the proactive steps of the committee, which led to the isolation and identification of the reported cases.
“I wish to assure the good people of Taraba State that this is not a time to panic as the government is on top of the situation.
“Your protection is paramount and we will do everything within our powers to checkmate the spread of the virus,” he said.
The governor further stated that additional manpower and resources had been mobilised and deployed to trace the contacts of all those who had tested positive to the coronavirus immediately.
He, however, expressed concern over the reported outbreak, in spite of the robust proactive steps taken by his administration to prevent the virus from entering into the state.
Ishaku recalled that the state had taken all necessary preventive measures immediately the index case was identified in the country.
He listed some of the preventive steps to include the closure of land borders with neighbouring states as well as its international boundary with the Republic of Cameroun.
Ishaku also recalled that the government had rolled out intensive sensitisation and advocacy programmes, using the two major religions as well as traditional institutions and the media.
He, however, stressed that some of the other measures being put in place would come with a lot of inconveniences to the people.
According to him, “We must adopt the measures in order to save lives and government will do everything possible to ameliorate the sufferings of those who may be adversely affected by those measures.”
NAN recalls that the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had, on Sunday, confirmed six index cases in the state.