A whooping sum of 157,750,000 naira has been expended by the Katsina State Government for COVID-19 tests in the state. These Covid-19 tests have b
A whooping sum of 157,750,000 naira has been expended by the Katsina State Government for COVID-19 tests in the state.
These Covid-19 tests have been conducted from May 31st, 2020 to date on 10,000 suspected cases of COVID 19 at a private medicare laboratory centre accredited by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC. This amount is in addition to other costs on patients care, welfare packages and allowances for staff who manning the four major isolation centres in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Home Affairs, Abdulkareem Sirika who disclosed this at the Government House, in Katsina on Thursday, said every test costs the state government N15,750. The Commissioner while revealing that the amount paid to Sahel Medicare was in addition to other costs from patients care and staff allowances, said 11,314 samples have been collected cumulatively with 675 repeats and follow-ups.
As at 2nd September 2020, the Commissioner announced that 800 positive cases have been recorded in the state with 24 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in the state. Sirika further announced that 9,601 results were recorded as negative, stressing that only Dandume Local Government is yet to return a Covid-19 positive result.
He explained that samples from local governments are being tested for confirmation, adding that Katsina is currently ranked at the 16th position among the 36 states with the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, describing it as remarkable as at the initial stage, the state was ranked number four.
