Written By: Chinweozo Amuta
No doubt, the world has been so much threatened by the novel Coronavirus pandemic, otherwise called COVID-19. The disease manifested in late 2019 at Wuhan Province, China. Though the scourge is said to have started abating in China, it has, through physical contacts, spread to other parts of the globe.
Presently, Europe is the continent worst hit by the scourge, with Italy and Spain bearing the severest pang of the pandemic. The United States of America is equally being devastated by COVID-19, with New York, as the epicenter of the deadly virus. The death tolls in Europe and USA have surpassed the number of persons killed by the virus in China.
Because life is the most precious gift of God to man, governments all over the world are presently making desperate efforts to cure the victims of the disease and stop the pandemic.
Here in Anambra, the state government is doing everything in its powers to prevent outbreak or spread of the killer disease. Like the federal and other state governments, the Obiano administration has taken proactive measures by mobilising all stakeholders to guard against the debilitating disease.
In addition to its prompt establishment of COVID-19 task force, headed by Governor Willie Obiano, the state government has mobilized for all emergencies likely to emanate from the life threatening disease. It has, for instance, provided necessary equipment and materials and put medical personnel on red alert in the isolation centers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi; Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Amaku-Awka and the General Hospitals at Onitsha and Umueri.
Other health facilities that have been prepared to tackle the challenge include Immaculate Health Multi Specialist Hospital, Aguleri; NYSC Orientation Camp, Umuawulu-Mbaukwu, in addition to some private health centres such as Saint Joseph Hospital, Adazi; Life, Crown and New Hope Hospitals spread across the state. Thousands of Test and Protective kits as well as Ventilators have been procured by the government and made available to medical personnel in the health facilities and other outposts.
The kits include; auto chemical analyzers; oxygen concentrators; electric suction; surgical instrument tool boxes; patient monitor with stands; protective hand gloves and nose masks among others. More necessary materials are being made available, even as the Anambra state government is working in synergy with the World Health Organisation, WHO and the National Center for Disease Control, NCDC to contain the virus.
Meanwhile, the state government has made over thirty-five thousand, eight hundred bags of Anambra Rice available for distribution to persons above seventy years in the one hundred and seventy-nine communities of the state, to mitigate the harsh effects of the economic lockdown necessitated by the Coronavirus pandemic. Every community is entitled to two hundred bags.
Schools and markets have been closed while churches and various communities are largely cooperating with relevant authorities in the temporary lockdown of the society. Law enforcement agencies are enforcing the restriction orders while the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA is equally mobilizing and sensitizing the populace.
As bad as the situation is, it is ironically a thing of joy that it has taken the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic to rekindle the hand washing culture and spirit of general hygiene in our clime.
From all indications, Ndi Anambra have been fully mobilised. Wealthy indigenes of the state and corporate groups who are compassionate have been responding positively to efforts of the Obiano administration to mitigate the threat posed by COVID-19 in our state. By God’s grace, the scourge will sooner than later come to an end, and millions of Ndi Anambra, like other people across the globe, will be saved.
Thus, the attitude of the state government on the ongoing corona virus crisis has again proved that it is very responsive to the plight and yearnings of the people, just as it is providing democracy dividends to the state.
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