Oyo State Kicks-Off Free Examination Using Covid-19 Rapid Diagnostic Kits

Last updated: 2021/06/18 at 9:47 AM

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Dr Taiwo Ladipo, the Incident Manager, Oyo State Emergency Operation Centre, has said that in a bid to boost the testing for COVID-19, it is providing free testing, using COVID-19 rapid diagnostic kits that give result within an hour in six designated centres across the state.

He said in the last 6 weeks, 8,700 tests had been carried out using the COVID-19 rapid diagnostic kits that were initially used at the orientation camps and for testing medical students on their resumption at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

In his statement, some of 150,000 COVID-19 rapid diagnostic kits received in the state are currently being deployed into the community and individuals that come out positive will be followed up with a confirmatory test using the polymerase chain reaction test

He stated: “So people need not think testing is difficult if they need it. The six designated centres, including Idiogungun Primary Health care centre and State Hospital Oyo, is intending to increase access to testing and fast track result.”

Dr Ladipo mentioned that the focus of Oyo State now is on surveillance at sentinel sites to monitor the infection trend, monitoring of test results of international travellers, mass screening exercise using COVID-19 rapid test kits, a vaccination campaign and routine response activities.

Further, he advised everyone to get set to be vaccinated during the next round of COVID-19 vaccination exercise in the state.

Mrs Titilope Akinleye, Oyo state Diseases Surveillance Notification officer, in her statement, said some of the factors increasing the risk of COVID-19 resurgence include persistent public misconceptions and non-pharmaceutical preventive measures almost totally abandoned.

Others are due to poor awareness on who is a suspected case, refusal of COVID-19 testing opportunities, contacts and confirmed cases not isolating and confirmed cases refusing to advise on admission and isolation and unauthorised persons treating COVID-19 and COVID-like illnesses.