Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Monday said arrangements have been finalised for the take-off of the state’s COVID-19 testing centre, adding that testing for coronavirus would commence at the centre before the end of the week.
Fayemi disclosed this during an on-the-spot assessment of facilities at the expanded Infectious Disease Unit at the Oba Adejugbe General Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.
He had earlier declared during his last broadcast that the state government planned to test no fewer than 10,000 residents by June.
“This week, we will be formally launching our testing centre at the teaching hospital. So, I’m confirming it to you.” Governor Fayemi told journalists after the inspection.
He explained that the testing centre would help the state test as many people as possible as part of government’s efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the state.
Fayemi noted that the expansion of the state’s isolation centre to a 100 -bed capacity was a proactive step to prepare against a possible surge in the number of patients.
The Governor, who put the present capacity of the centre for Covid-19 patients at ten beds, stated that the state already has ten active patients, while the results of some contacts were being expected. The development, according to him, has justified the government’s plan to expand the centre to a 100-bed capacity.
He said: “We are expanding our infectious disease hospital bed space, as you know we have just ten-bed space in the one we are using now but there is an increase and we have to prepare for the worse while we hope for the best.
“We want a reduction in the number of Covid-19 positive patients in the state, but right now, we have about ten active cases, that means all our beds there are fully occupied. So, we have had to then expand to a hundred- bed space. So, if we have any additional patients, we are prepared for them”
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