The Ekiti State government on Friday said the monetary contributions by private organisations and philanthropists into the state COVID-19 response fund have hit N631.083m.
This was as the government announced four new cases, which involved tree males and one female, who sneaked into the state from Lagos, Katsina and Oyo states during the lockdown.
The Director General, Office of Transformation and Strategy, Prof. Bolaji Aluko while giving updates on covid-19 in the state, revealed that 535 contributors which includes 231 donors and 234 political appointees donated to the Ekiti Covid-19 response fund.
“We have received a sum of N631.08m million from 535 contributors which the breakdown includes 231 donors and 234 political appointees.
“About 50 private organisations had donated food items and other consumables to fight this scourge by way of cushioning the effect of lockdown on the people.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mojisola Yaya-Kolade said though, the State has discharged some patients from the isolation centre, but hinted that three of the four new cases were those that have been quarantined having come to the state from places considered as epicentre of COVID-19.
“We have four new cases now. One of the cases is an old man that has been isolated in one of our tertiary health institutions for a while . He is an elderly person who is in a critical condition.
“Others included a 35- year old female from Katsina and 32- year male from Ibadan while the third one is a 38 -year old male from Lagos, who all sneaked into Ekiti during the lockdown.
“But despite all these, no community spread, because they all came from outside. We beg our people to always alert us when new people came into town, because this has been working .
“But we are begging that nobody should come to Ekiti now, it is an executive order given by Governor Kayode Fayemi that nobody should come at this precarious time.
“It constitutes financial burden to Ekiti for victim of Covid 19 to come from Lagos, Oyo, Katsina to come to our state for treatment,” she stated.
Yaya-Kolade added that the government has trained a total of 80 civil servants on how to test the people using infra red thermometer.
She noted that a total of 234 blood samples had been taken and tested since the outbreak of the disease, assuring that more will be done to safeguard the state from calamity.