Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti State Government yesterday disclosed that 74 patients had been isolated due to the eruption of COVID-19 cases.
Consequently, the state government reintroduced the use of face masks, handwashing, sanitising as well as maintenance of social distancing in public places to check the spread of Covid 19 disease.
This was revealed in a statement the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Oyebanji Fulani issued yesterday giving updates on the pandemic.
Fulani added that the upsurge in the number of those tested positive for Covid 19 forced him to warn before Sallah celebration that Muslim adherents must observe safety protocols at Eids.
The commissioner revealed that Ekiti had since November 2021 been experiencing a significant decline in the number of positive Covid-19 cases and low occupants in the isolation centres.
He said: “There was need for serious caution with 74 patients now being isolated. As the Ministry of Health continues to monitor the recent increase of COVID-19 cases across the country.
“With the recent spike in the state with 74 persons currently positive, all residents of Ekiti State are hereby advised to adhere strictly to the wearing of facemasks in public gatherings.
“Henceforth, they must maintain hand hygiene through proper handwashing or use of alcohol-based hand rub, social or physical distancing, reporting at the nearest health facility when sick and getting tested and isolating if positive
“There must also be adherence to Covid-19 measures in banks and other public institutions”.
Meanwhile, a management consulting firm, Sydani Group, has revealed that a total of 1.6 million residents out of the 1.9 million eligible population are yet to be injected with the Covid 19 vaccines in Ekiti State.
Sydani revealed this in Ado Ekiti, during a stakeholders’ meeting held with media executives in collaboration with the Ekiti State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, saying a little over 300,000, had been innoculated with the vaccines.
An official of the Sydani Group, Mr. Dapo Awobeku, said the uptake of the Covid 19 vaccines available in Ekiti, had been slowed down by poor accessibility and misconceptions being peddled around about their security.
Awobeku lamented that the figure of those that had been inoculated represented a paltry 16.8 percent of the eligible population, describing this as unacceptable.
He added that the Sydani Group in partnership is incurably committed to raise the figure with over 500,000 within the next six months through vigorous campaigns for better and robust participation.
The Sydani official appealed to the media in Ekiti to collaborate with the government to raise the awareness to debunk the myths built around the vaccines that they are unsafe and deleterious to the health of the citizens.
