Kaduna State Commissioner for Health, Dr Amina Mohammed-Baloni, has said that more than 130,000 people have tested for their COVID-19 status in the state.
Mohammed-Baloni made this disclosure on Monday while delivering a lecture at Kaduna State University, Kaduna.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was the 2021 Annual Faculty Day Lecture of the Faculty of Public Health and Community Medicine of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.
NAN also reports that the lecture was entitled: ‘Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 on Communities and the Mitigation Efforts.’
According to the commissioner, 9,100 people have tested positive for the virus in the state since 2020.
She added that the state government had continued to run the COVID-19 tests for the citizens, even when the cases had become low.
“Currently, we have a slight surge in the last few weeks, mostly around the NYSC orientation camps which is happening across the country.
“We have tried to get ahead of that by making sure that we have adequate testing materials,” she said.
The commissioner said that the state had five COVID-19 testing laboratories for Polymerase Chains Reaction (PCR) and 12 gene expert machines where tests were being done.
“The NCDC has now licensed rapid test and we are also doing it in all our general hospitals.
“We are trying to test as many people as we can. Although it is expensive, government has been very supportive,” she said.
Muhammed-Baloni further explained that the state government had tried to build resilience in the health system by providing isolation centres and going round for testing in designated places.
She disclosed that the state had received another tranche of the COVID-19 vaccine which would be given to people within the week.
“As you know, we don’t produce vaccines in the country but we give priority to the vulnerable and the elderly to ensure that we get ahead of the disease before it gets to many people,” she said. (NAN)
