The Bayero University, Kano is to establish a Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing centre to check the spread of the pandemic, its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Yahuza Bello, has said.
Bello, who is the Chairman of the COVID-19 Fund Rising Committee in the state, said that the centre would have a capacity to test 180 samples daily.
He spoke on Sunday in Kano when the Kano State Taskforce Committee on COVID-19 briefed the press.
Bello decried the upsurge in the pandemic, saying that all was being done to stem the tide.
Earlier, Dr Tijjani Hussaini, the Coordinator of the Taskforce on COVID-19, had said that 77 tests had so far turned positive, out of the 489 samples taken since the committee commenced operation.
He said that the committee had sent 44 suspected cases to Abuja for testing sequel to the shutting down of activities at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC’s) molecular laboratory at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
According to him, the centre is undergoing a 74-hour fumigation exercise.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Government has constituted 10 mobile courts to prosecute defaulters of the lockdown order.
Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje, who announced the development on Sunday, said that the measure was part of proactive steps to enhance rapid response to the pandemic.
He said that government was on top of the situation “in spite of the challenges posed by the closure of the only test centre in the state”.
While calling for Federal Government’s intervention to enhance the campaign against the pandemic, Ganduje commended the people of the state for complying with the lockdown order.
