Anambra State Government has directed the Anambra Police Command to arrest and prosecute all hoodlums who parade themselves as COVID-19 Task force operatives.
The government noted that it was regrettable that the fake COVID-19 Task force operatives had been harassing and extorting money from people, claiming they were established by it.Gov. Willie Obiano emphasised this during his broadcast to the state at Governor’s Lodge, Onitsha, where he gave an update on the government’s fight against COVID-19 in the state.
It is only Anambra State COVID-19 Task Force, the Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA) Brigade and Anambra Traffic Management Agency (ATMA) are the only agencies authorised to make arrests on violators of COVID-19 protocols.Any other agency or group of people masquerading as COVID-19 Task Force on the streets of Anambra State is fake.
I have been reliably informed that a group of criminals parading as fake COVID-19 Task Force uniforms have been arresting people and extorting huge sums of money from them while posturing as working for the Government of Anambra State.These tricksters are reported to be very active in places like Onitsha, Nkpor and Obosi.’’
On Testing Facilities at Amaku, the Governor said: “I am delighted to announce that our COVID-19 testing laboratory at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH) has started functioning.The lab became operational last week; already, it has run a total of 208 COVID-19 tests within its short period of operation. Each of its five machines has an installed capacity to run 470 tests in 24 hours.
This means that when fully optimised, our molecular laboratory can run a total of 2,350 COVID-19 tests in 24 hours. That is very impressive by all standards.
Ndi Anambra, with this new capacity, we are finally ready to take the battle to COVID-19 in Anambra State.So, in the coming weeks, our COVID-19 figures will experience a sharp rise as we ramp up more tests in our new molecular laboratory.
When you see a sudden surge in the number of cases from our dear state, please do not panic because it is a major part of our fight back against the pandemic. Biko, unu atuna egwu’ – Do not entertain fears.’’
