Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, on Monday said arrangements have been finalisd for the take-off of the state’s Covid-19 testing centre, adding that testing for coronavirus would commence at the centre before the end of the week.

Dr Fayemi disclosed this during an on-the-spot assessment of facilities at the expanded Infectious Disease Unit at the Oba Adejugbe General Hospital, Ado-Ekiti.

“This week, we will be formally launching our testing centre at the teaching hospital. So, I’m confirming it to you.” Governor Fayemi told journalists after the inspection.

He explained that the testing centre would help the state test as many people as possible as part of government’s efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the state.

The expansion of the state’s isolation centre to a 100 -bed capacity is a proactive step to prepare against a possible surge in the number of patients.

The Governor, who put the present capacity of the centre for Covid-19 patients at ten beds, stated that the state already has ten active patients, while the results of some contacts were being expected. The development, according to him, has justified government’s plan to expand the centre to a 100-bed capacity.

Governor Fayemi said: “We are expanding our infectious disease hospital bed space, as you know we have just ten-bed space in the one we are using now but there is an increase and we have to prepare for the worse while we hope for the best.

“We want a reduction in the number of Covid-19 positive patients in the state, but right now, we have about ten active cases, that mean all our beds there are fully occupied. So, we have had to then expand to a hundred-bed space. So, if we have any additional patients, we are prepared for them”

•PHOTO: Governor Kayode Fayemi with the Permanent Secretary, Hospital Management Board, Dr Williams Afolabi; during an inspection of facilities at the new 100-bed infectious Diseases Unit (isolation centre the treatment of covid-19 patients) in Ado Ekiti….on Monday