COVID -19 :Akwa Ibom commences distribution of relief materials
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By Grace Udoh
The Akwa Ibom State government says it has commenced the distribution of relief materials to the 31 local government areas to help alleviate the plight of the people in the face of the Covid-19 lock down.
A statement by the state commissioner for information, Mr. Charles Udoh, made available to newsmen in Uyo on Tuesday indicates that fifteen Local Government Areas were captured to benefit from the first batch of government intervention
The Commissioner who listed the first 15 benefiting council areas to include Ukanafun, Ibeno, Eket, Ibeno, Ini Mbo, Udung Uko, Onna, Oron, Etim Ekpo, Nsit Ubium, Nsit Atai, Abak and Okobo, assured that palliatives will also be extended to the remaining 16 council areas on Wednesday.
He listed the food items being distributed to include; garri, rice, and flour which be shared to all the villages in the state.
Udoh said reports from the Covid-19 Incident Management Committee indicate that the 66 contacts traced to the 5 index cases are being followed.
The report from the Covid-19 IMC released by the commissioner indicate as follows, “As at 7.30pm, over 76 calls were received on Easter Monday at the Call Center of the Akwa Ibom State COVID-19 Situation Room. 60.7% were check-in calls, 12.8 % called to complain of other health issues while 11 % express their opinions on the lock down operations in force in the state.
“Less than 5 % were Covid-19 related with the remaining calls bothering on financial issues, enquiries and suggestions.
“COVID-19 related alerts received were 3 and all were investigated. At the end of the investigation, none of them were suspected cases of Coronavirus.
“33% of the callers on Monday were referred to a hospital, 27.8 % were referred to the Police / Monitoring team, while Clinician was made to do a phone call check up on 22.2 % of the callers, with 11.1% only having to be referred to the State Epidemiologist.
“The Emergency Call Center set up by the Akwa Ibom State Government in rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic has 4 call stations on a 24-hour operation running on three shifts, morning, afternoon and night.
“The 5 Cases are still being managed with progress noted while awaiting confirmation test results from NCDC. The 66 Contacts traced to the index cases are currently under follow-up. Also ongoing is the Point of entry screening in the state.
“Decontamination of health facilities and public spaces is still ongoing. So far, some strategic locations including the Victor Attah International Airport, several markets in the Uyo urban, the Ibom Plaza and some Hospital Facilities have been sterilized