The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Council Secretariat Popularly known as Iwe Iroyin Press Center comprising offices, guests’ house and shops located at Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, the State Capital on Thursday was disinfected by officials of the state’s Ministry of Health.
The health officials which arrived the premises as early as 8am and immediately embarked on the exercise, and were seen moving from one section to the other to fumigate every parts of the centre.
The leadership of the union, it is recalled had shut down activities in the premises weeks ago, even before the government lockdown directive, to prevent the ravaging coronavirus among its members and within the premises.
It would be recalled that, sometime before the closure of the centre,at a press conference held by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on the ravaging coronavirus, the journalists ,adhered strictly to the World Health Organisation(WHO), social distancing recommendation.
The Ogun State Ministry of Health in a related development has reacted to the video, circulating on the social media about the evacuation of the corpse claimed to be a coronavirus victim, dropped at Kuto, Abeokuta by a driver on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker,in a statement said the State’s public health officials, who carried out the evacuation were trained and appropriately kitted, in line with the infection prevention and control guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on Covid-19.
Coker in the statement said, World Health Organisation(WHO) and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control( NCDC) recommend the use of double hand gloves and N-95 face masks, as the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) adding that these were strictly adhered to in this suspected case.
The commissioner disclosed that swab of the corpse and his companion, as seen in the video had been taken and since been sent to the laboratory to ascertain if the cause of death is coronavirus.
‘’It should be noted that the dead body of a Covid-19 victim is not readily infectious since the corpse lungs were not functional at the time of this interaction’’,
Coker however disclosed that the companion of the deceased has been isolated, until results become available, emphasizing that the commonest route of transmission asides contamination through surfaces, ‘’is through droplets emanating from the breathe of a live suspect case, via sneezing, coughing or talking’’.
“We would like to reiterate that the Ogun State Healthcare workers are trained to work in accordance with global best practices and will never compromise the stipulated standard. It is worth mentioning that the safety and well being of the people of Ogun State is paramount to the Prince Dapo Abiodun-led administration”, Coker said.
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