The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Delta State on Health Monitoring, Dr Michael Nwoko, has once again reminded Deltans and all residents of the State on the need to take the Covid-19 global pandemic seriously by ensuring that they maintain strict adherence to safety measures clearly spelt out by the Nigeria Center For Disease Control and Federal Ministry of Health.
Dr. Nwoko who is also a member of the Covid-19 Enforcement Committee in charge of border health surveillance in Delta State, said that the spike of the pandemic in the State is as a result of nonchalant attitude of the people to adhere strictly to preventive measures further added that effective contact tracing and the increase in the testing capacity of the State, are keeping pace with the spread and helping to isolate and treat victims of the pandemic.
He stated this while responding to questions on the spike of the virus in the State by reporters, who visited him in his office, Asaba, Tuesday June 16.
In his response to the daily increase in Covid-19 figures in the State, Dr Nwoko while appreciating the State Governor, Sen. Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, for his dogged commitment to the war against COVID-19 and safety of all residents of the State said, “Covid-19 is real and is here in our midst. The increase in figures is primarily due to nonchalant attitude of our people to adherence to safety measures. Therefore, figures are on the rise due to effective contact tracing amongst persons of interest and increase in testing capacity.
“It is worthy of note that cases cannot be established without testing, but that does not mean the diseases is not out there, so the more you trace contacts and test, the more cases you will have.’ Dr. Nwoko emphasized.
On whether there is any ray of hope of decrease in the figures in coming months?
Dr Nwoko replied, “yes the number will stabilized if we adhere strictly to the preventive measures you know, as we increase testing, we will get to a point where the number will be declining.
“However, the most important thing is that we maintain strict adherence to preventive measures such as social distancing, compulsory use of face mask in public, regular hand washing with soap and clean water as well as the need to get tested at the onset of any unusual symptom.
“The press must continue to educate the people that coronavirus is real and very much here in our midst. It is a task which everyone of us must pass to people around us, we must all continue to drum the message up to the people in order to bring about change in orientation and value system of those who do not believe that COVID-19 is real,” he stated
By Iroroh Frank
