By Adadareporters
One of the thirteen suspected cases of MPOX, formerly known as monkey pox, in Isiala Ngwa area of Abia State has been confirmed positive.
Speaking to newsmen at the Government House, Umuahia, after this week’s Executive Council Meeting, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said nine persons tested negative, while two were awaiting clarification.
Prince Kanu announced that the state government had set up a treatment centre at Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, Aba, and urged residents to maintain personal hygiene and social distancing to reduce the spread of the virus.
Speaking further on MPOX virus in the state, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Ngozi Azodoh, urged residents, especially farmers to reduce contact with animals.
She said there was a synergy among the Ministries of Health, Environment, and Public Utilities as a steering committee had been set up on the infectious diseases, while the state had keyed into the Federal Government “One-Health” policy.
According to Dr Azodo, the state government has concluded arrangements to commence renovation works by the first week of September this year on two hundred Primary Healthcare Centres in next one hundred days to bring them up to standard for improved healthcare services, especially at the rural areas.
Responding to questions from journalists, the Commissioner for Education in the state, Professor Uche Eme Uche, said the government had started reclaiming the one hundred and eighty compromised public school lands acquired by individuals in the state, stressing that the government had only demolished the illegal perimeter fence at the Government College, Umuahia, but it would be wasteful to demolish any structure that is not on the way.
Also, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, said that the state government had concluded identification of houses to be demolished along the Umuikaa- Owerrinta road expansion, adding that compensation for the affected structures would commence soon.
