COVID-19: Kano is in trouble-Ganduje

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has said the state is in a pitiable state, as COVID-19 cases keep rising.

Kano State has the second highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country after Lagos.

Speaking on Sunday at the presentation of a COVID-19 Mobile Testing Centre donated by the Dangote Foundation to the state, Ganduje said the delay in testing suspected cases has been responsible for the surge in number of cases in the state.

In a statement by Ganduje’s Chief Press Secretary, Abba Anwar, the governor said the absence of operational testing centres in the state led it to its current situation.

“There is no doubt that Kano is in trouble. And there is no doubt that we started on a shaky foundation. When samples were taken to Abuja for 7 hours and came back again in 7 hours, that was the shaky foundation I am talking about.

“We then lodged our complaint to President Muhammadu Buhari, who ordered for the establishment of a Testing Centre at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, which after take-off was shut down for some days if not weeks. That was what escalated the transmission of the disease up to community transmission.

“But with the coming back of the AKTH Testing Centre and the addition of Bayero University, Kano that has the capacity of testing about 200 samples per day now, with the coming of Dangote Mobile Testing Centre of 400 samples capacity, we are making headway in facing the crisis squarely,” Ganduje said.

The Director-General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu who was also at the event was quoted to have said, “I just want the people of Kano to understand that we have not left you. We are behind you hundred per cent.

“I want to assure you that, by the time we hear from the findings of Dr Nasiru Sani Gwarzo’s team from the Presidential Task Force, for the days they have been here, we will have more solutions that we will use in solving the problems from Kano.”