August 07, (THEWILL) – The Akwa Ibom State Government has attributed the high number of persons who tested positive to COVID-19 to the large number of people from neighbouring states without facilities for PCR test.
Making the disclosure at a Press Briefing in Uyo, the state capital, on Friday, the state’s Coordinator for COVID-19 management and immediate past Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dominic Ukpong, also blamed the rising number of cases on the attitude of the people.
According to him, Akwa Ibom is considered as having the best PCR laboratory in the country.
He extended an invitation by the Akwa Ibom State Government to neighbouring states to take advantage of the testing centre, saying many have done so under cover, by adopting indigenous names.
Ukpong said in their continued disbelief about the existence of COVID-19, many consistently ignored basic protocols and have therefore exposed themselves to the infection..
He said: “Following our invitation, we have pleasantly been receiving and testing increasing huge number of people and whole families coming voluntarily for testing in the last two weeks. These include large number of people from some neighbouring states where there are no facilities for PCR tests.
“You are well aware that we are the only state with two state-owned PCR laboratories, which NCDC acclaimed to be about the best in the country. These PCR machines are maintained entirely by the state and people are tested free. All positive cases are also treated free at our permanent facility, the Infectious Disease Centre, IDC, at Ituk Mbang”
The Coordinator, who disclosed that the government has again subjected members of the State Executive Council, other public officers and frontline public servant to COVID-19 testing, maintained that Akwa Ibom would rather test and record many cases than wait for its people to die in ignorance.
He stressed: “We have also been constantly inviting people to come in for COVID testing. We prefer to test and treat every positive case found rather than wait for symptoms to develop because symptoms of the new variant, the DELTA variant, are not yet quite clear.
“We however know that many of those infected with the variant are symptomless; cough and loss of smell and taste are not regular features. Those infected can come down more quickly and seriously with the diseases. The variant is also 50 times more infectious than previous variants and is affecting young people with more severity than the previous variants.”
