Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Borno State government has explained why COVID-19 confirmed cases were on the increase despite the efforts to curtail its spread.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Salihu KwayaBura,at a press conference in Maiduguri, yesterday, said most of the new cases of patients were from persons who broke the ban on inter-state movement by travelling from high risk areas to Borno. He also attributed the surge to increased sample collection and testing, adding that the state had improved on its testing capacity.
“Ordinarily, epidemiologists would not have recorded most of these new cases for Borno because most of them are from high risk areas who travelled into the state by breaking the restriction order in place,” said KwayaBura who is also secretary of the state COVID-19 response and control team.
He described the decrease in observance of the COVID-19 measures by the people as natural, but warned of the negative impact.
He said that many Nigerians were scared of the pandemic at the early stage of its outbreak, but appeared not to show more interest in it again.
“What seems to be waning interest is actually a human response to catastrophe which often reduces when people get used to the situation,” he said.
He, however, urged the people not to forget the warning by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the impact of the second wave of the outbreak of the pandemic.
While commenting on the efforts of the government to improve health services and facilities in the state in the last one year, the commissioner said the government built and completed 19 primary healthcare centres in 15 of the 27 local government areas, while 28 others in 13 LGAs are ongoing.
He revealed that Governor Babagana Zulum had introduced free dialysis procedure for kidney patients in his first three months in office.
He said the intervention helped many patients in reducing the cost of healthcare. He, however, said patients still bore the cost of drugs and for other treatment. Commissioner of Information, Babakura Jatto, said the state governor has demonstrated “zeal for service, concern for the people in all his activities in the last one year.” He appealed for more support and unity from citizens in the years ahead.