Anambra commences COVID -19 testing in Ojukwu Varsity teaching hospital
Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra Obiano says the test laboratory at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Amaku, Awka has started operations.
Obiano said the laboratory has five installed machines with individual capacity to run 470 tests in 24 hours adding that when fully optimised, the molecular laboratory can run a total of 2,350 COVID-19 tests in 24 hours.
Obiano disclosed this in a text of state broadcast made available to journalists on Tuesday.
He said the new testing infrastructure would result to increase in Anambra COVID -19 figures in coming days.
According to him, in the coming weeks, our Covid-19 figures will experience a sharp rise as we ramp up more tests in our new molecular laboratory.
“When you see a sudden surge in the number of cases from our dear state, please do not panic because it is a major part of our fight back against the pandemic, please do not be afraid.
Obiano said no fewer than 12 deaths have been recorded in the state in relation to COVID -19 from a total of 590 tests have been conducted from 618 samples so far collected from the state.
He said 498 returned negative and 101 positive cases while 28 samples were still being awaited.
“As you are well aware, the COVID-19 pandemic is no more a distant threat, some of us have lost close relatives and friends to complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A good many people have been infected with the virus nationwide and our dear state is not insulated from this deadly virus.
“We have collected a total of 618 samples and conducted 590 tests, out of this figure, 101 were confirmed COVID-19 positive while 489 tested negative.
“We have 28 samples awaiting results from our laboratory. So far, we have recorded 12 deaths,” he said.
