The Cross River State Government has mounted security at all its borders (entrances and exits) of the State with a view to trapping down suspected cases of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Disclosing this to journalists in Calabar, Cross River State capital, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu said that ”a lot of people are coming in from Southern Cameroons into our State, all our borders across the State are presently being mounted by security operatives.
“This is beyond politics, it is life of Nigerians, so everyone should work with us. In the creeks, we have some security challenges but the security operatives are working with us with a view to ensuring that our people are sensitised on how to prevent the disease.”
She added that the State now had a newly constructed permanent isolation centre located at an isolated environment at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH).
“We have a permanent isolation centre at the UCTH, newly built and a completely isolated area that met the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard.
“We have other temporal ones at the General Hospital Ogoja and Calabar. The Permanent Isolation centre has been fully furnished and it is ready to be use in case we have any suspected case(s). The other two have not met the WHO standard. We are currently carrying out sensitization in all our local government areas, army, and other security agencies,” he said.
Consequently, she said that in a bid to protect the state against any case of the deadly Coronavirus, the Governor, Prof Ben Ayade has intensified efforts towards prevention, by adopting strict screening exercise at all entry points in the State such as, land boarders, airports, as well as seaports.
To this end, Dr Edu along with other health team and officials of World Health Organisation (WHO) in the state said they had visited the Margaret Ekpo International Airport and other port of entry into the start to supervise proper screening of travellers.
The Commissioner flanked by the DG primary Health Care Agency and others assured the people of the state government’s preparedness to combat the disease, saying the State Government was on top of its game to make sure that the state is COVID-19 free.
She urged Cross Riverians to practice the preventive measures by regular hand washing with soap, avoid touching of eyes, nose, face, mouth with unwashed hands, cover mouth while sneezing and coughing in public, with handkerchief or flexed elbow amongst others.
The Commissioner also called on Cross Riverians not to panic, but report any case of cough, fever, head ache, and history of travel within 14 days to any country where cases have been reported, especially China.
