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Taraba State government on Monday confirmed six index cases of coronavirus in the state.

The state governor, Darius Ishaku, who disclosed this in a state-wide broadcast from the Government House, Jalingo, added that the state government, with the support of Access Bank, would soon complete a 100-bed capacity isolation centre.

Although Ishaku expressed worries over the development, he assured the people of the state of his administration’s commitment to protecting them against further spread of the pandemic within the limits of the available resources.

He urged the residents of the state not to panic, saying his administration had deployed resources and manpower to trace contacts of all those who tested positive for the disease.

The governor said: “We all woke up this morning to the shocking news of six confirmed cases of COVID-19 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

“These are results from samples taken from persons already quarantined by the State Task Force on COVID-19, who are presently at the state isolation centre, located at Sibre in Jalingo.

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“The persons are among the 130 interstate travellers from Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Ogun and Lagos States, intercepted at our borders.

“I, therefore, commend the proactive steps of the committee, which led to the isolation and identification of the reported cases.

“I wish to assure the good people of Taraba State that this is not a time to panic as the government is on top of the situation.

“Your protection is paramount and we will do everything within our powers to checkmate the spread of the virus.”

The governor further stated that additional manpower and resources had been mobilised and deployed to trace the contacts of all those who had tested positive to the coronavirus immediately.

He, however, expressed concern over the reported outbreak, despite the robust proactive steps taken by his administration to prevent the virus from entering into the state. (NAN)

Vanguard