By Idowu Abdullahi,
The Kogi State Government has again faulted claims by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that the state recorded another confirmed coronavirus case, bringing the confirmed cases in the state to three.
The NCDC had in its latest update yesterday’s night claimed that the state recorded one new case, being among the new three hundred and forty-eight cases recorded in the country.
The center in its breakdown said Lagos State recorded 163, FCT 76, and Rivers State 21 while Delta, Nasarawa, and Niger states recorded eight cases each, with Enugu recording six and Bauchi, Edo, Ekiti, Ondo, and Gombe recording five cases each. Others, it claimed, were Benue with four cases, Ogun with two, while Osun, Plateau, Kogi, and Anambra recorded one new case each.
But, the state government while rejecting the NCDC claim on Thursday, noted that the announcement was false as the state was not aware of any new cases.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Saka Haruna, through a post on his social media page, stressed that the ministry alongside the state government was not aware of the fresh case as they never sent any new sample to the center for testing.
“The purported New Case: We are not aware of who the patient is, where and when the Test was conducted,” he wrote.
Recall that the government had last week also faulted the claims by the NCDC that the state recorded two coronavirus index cases, insisting that the state is free from the virus.
It explained that the viral nature of the claims as reported by online news medium quoting the center and the debate it had generated, necessitated the clarification, adding that the NCDC claims were false.
“Kogi State till this very moment is Covid-19 free. We have developed the full testing capacity and have conducted hundreds of tests so far which have returned negative.
“We have also continued to insist that we will not be a party to any fictitious Covid-19 claims which is why we do not recognize any Covid-19 test conducted by any Kogite outside the boundaries of the State except those initiated by us. Any attempt to force us to announce a case of Covid-19 will be vehemently rejected.
“We continue to enjoin our people to take all necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic into the State and give no listening ears to rumor peddlers and mischief-makers.
“We are more than prepared to secure the life of our people and have no interest in playing politics with their health concerns,” the statement released to newsmen by Haruna read.
