The Abia State Commissioner for Information,Chief John Okiyi Kalu has said that there is no record of Covid-19 19 case among serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state.
This is coming on the heels of erroneous reports emanating from some quarters alledging that Seventeen members of the NYSC tested positive for COVID-19.
Chief Okiyi Kalu who was briefing journalists at Government House Umuahia, explained that the corps members were tested on arrival at the orientation camp, Umunnator, in Bende LGA using the Rapid Diagnostic Test Kit (RDT).
He noted that the earlier report of Covid 19 patients from the NYSC camp where contrary to the Standard PCR testing facility at Amachara.
His words; “In using the RDT kit, it is very possible that you might have a false positive report. When the Commissioner for Health was discussing this issue, he was discussing in terms of the overall positive not the PCR confirmed positive.
“I wish to state categorically that they conducted 1,181 RDT test at the NYSC camp before entry. Of this 1,181, 973 of them are Corps members while 208 are other workers inside the camp including the commanders and others. Every single one of them was tested before entry into the camp.
“Of the total 1,181 six of corps members returned positive results with the RDT test kits only five were PCR confirmed”.
According to him, four out of the Five persons who tested positive with the PCR test kit have been treated and discharged at the Amachara facility.
The commissioner stated that that the state Government is satisfied with the measures put in place by the NYSC management to protect corps members adding that it will continue to collaborate with the NYSC management at the state and federal levels with a view to ensuring that corps members posted to the state are Covid-19 free.
“We do not believe that there is any peculiar risk associated with people camping in the Abia NYSC camp”, the information boss concluded.
Contributing the Abia State Commandant of the NYSC, Lady Bona Fashakin insisted that the Abia State Orientation camp is Covid 19-free as they have consistently subjected all corps members and staff to compulsory test before entry into the camp.
