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Raymond Ozoji, Awka
Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr. C. Don Adinuba, has admonished the citizenry not to mistake malaria symptoms for COVID-19 symptoms.
He said symptoms like constant coughing, feverish conditions, loss of sense of taste and smell, constant sneezing and a host of others were signs and symptoms of COVID-19 infections, even though he said that some people actually confused the signs with malaria symptoms.
The commissioner further stated that government has set up taskforces in all the 326 wards of the state that work in synergy with traditional rulers, town unions, market unions and others to help fish out persons who exhibited any of the symptoms mentioned above, stressing that early detection was key to the treatment and management of COVID-19 cases.
He also added that testing and management of cases were free of charge and that people should not panic but submit themselves for testing because according to him, early detection of the infection would help in the successful management of the case.
He said COVID-19 was not a death sentence and there was absolutely no need for stigmatization and discrimination against victims of the dreaded virus, noting that governors, top government functionaries, prominent individuals and other members of the society had recovered from the ailment and returned to normal life.
The commissioner said, “We are engaging religious leaders, market leaders, transport operators, hoteliers, traditional rulers, local government chairmen and the rest of them because it is a campaign towards social mobilisation.
“Our goal is to detect infections as early as possible. If we detect cases early enough, chances of being treated successfully is over 90%. There is no person who has been brought to our facility whose case is relatively new that we have not managed successfully.
“The casualties we have had were brought to us late; sometimes after the person had already died. So we are encouraging people of Anambra state to come early in their own interests because if detected, we will manage the case successfully.
“This is not a death sentence. Worldwide the mortality rate for COVID-19 is about 6.1% and in Nigeria it is about 3%. It is far less than 1% in Anambra state. Early detection is key. The governor is leading the charge and we are assisting him.
“We have teams in all the 21 local government areas who have been trained on how to take samples from people and quickly send the samples to our new testing centre. We have the only mega lab in the whole of the southeast for COVID-19 testing.
“We also have taskforces in all 326 wards of Anambra state. They are not trained necessarily in management of COVID-19 cases but they are there to tell us when there is a stranger in the community. They are to inform us if somebody has travelled outside the state and back especially to a state where it is endemic.
“They will inform us through traditional rulers, town unions, local government chairmen, if there is somebody who sneezes constantly, who coughs constantly, who has fever, who has lost sense of taste, etcetera. These are symptoms of COVID-19.”
