Delta Government on Wednesday inaugurated a testing center for COVID-19 in Asaba, to enhance the fight against the spread of the the disease in the state.

Mr Chiedu Ebie, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), while inaugurating the laboratory at Asaba Specialist Hospital, said the center would enable government to control the disease and scale up diagnosis in the state.

Ebie thanked the management of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) and PANDORA Group for deploying the laboratory to the state.

He called on others organisations to partner the state government in the fight against the dreaded virus.

According to him, the facility came at the right time as it would enable suspected cases of COVID-19 to be tested in the state and the result received on time.

“We have just had a brief tour of the test centre which is a partnership between PANDORA ID NET and Delta State Government and facilitated by Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH).

“This is the first in the series of test centers that we will be establishing here in Delta.

“What this means is that we will be able to wrap up our testing of suspected COVID-19 patients or samples so that the results will come out faster within the shortest time possible.

“We are very grateful to PANDORA team and the representative of Irrua specialist teaching hospital and the team from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for all the good work,” he said.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye, said that the laboratory was a dream come through as the centre could run as many tests as possible.

He said government was doing its best in containing the disease and advised anyone with symptoms of the ailment to report to the designated medical facilities for treatment.

Ononye said that Delta had recorded two deaths from the disease because the patients reported very late.

“Two of our cases have been discharged successfully and they have reunited with their families; we have three active cases now on treatment,” he said.

He said that the team handling COVID-19 cases in the state had all the technical know-how to treat them.

“Over the past weeks, people have been asking how we could get testing centres in Delta. The irrua specialist teaching hospital has been the designated place for the South-South for this type of test.

“We are glad to have irrua specialsit teaching hospital and PANDORA partner with us to establish this testing centre here in Asaba.

“Obviously, we are doing a lot of active search for contacts and with the establishment of this testing center we will be more on top of the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic in Delta,” he stated.

Ononye advised the people to always go out wearing their face masks as directed by the state government.

He urged them to observe properly, hand and respiratory hygiene and as much as possible and physical distancing.

The representative of the specialist teaching hospital, Dr Reuben Eifediyi, said the deployment of the center was to enable suspected cases in the state have access to medical facilities for testing before treatment could begin.

He urged residents of the state to maximise the opportunity provided by the centre to avert going into critical stage when infected before reporting to hospital.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, and other officials of the specialist teaching hospital and the NCDC witnessed the event. (NAN).