Following the alarming rise in coronavirus cases in Kano State, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, has donated Mobile Testing equipment to the state.
The solar-powered device has the capacity to test 400 people daily.
In the last couple of days, Kano recorded a frightening surge in positive cases, leapfrogging the Federal Capital Territory to the second-worst hit.
Dangote’s gesture comes on the heels of an appeal by Kano Concerned Citizens for completion of a 600-bed capacity Isolation Centre at the Sani Abacha Stadium located within Kano metropolis.
Governor Abdullahi Ganduje disclosed that the multi-billion equipment would arrive, Kano, next Monday.
“As we are targeting more Testing Centres in the state, the richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is donating Mobile Testing Centre with the capacity of testing 400 people daily. The facility is coming to Kano in the next two days, by Monday,” he said.
Commenting on the rising cases of positive COVID-19 patients in the state, Ganduje expressed worry, saying it “is a thing of great concern”.
He said, “though we are aware that with the bouncing back of the Aminu Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Testing Centre with the capacity of 88 samples per day, and the coming up of another Testing Centre at Bayero University, Kano, with the capacity of 20 samples per day means another rise in the identified positive cases.”
Ganduje, therefore, urged “people to observe all protocols as given by our health professionals. We should all know that there is no short cut in the fight against COVID-19 all over the world. So we must always abide by all the protocols.”
The solar-powered equipment is the first of its kind in Nigeria, which when calibrated, could test 1000 persons daily.
This would hoist the country’s testing capacity which has been criticised by experts.
As at Saturday, Nigeria has recorded 2,388 cases from barely 25,000 tests.
