Dr Nimkong Lar, the Plateau Commissioner for Health, has called on the citizens living outside the state to remain where they are until the threat being posed by coronavirus is over.
The commisioner made this call at a three-day training course, organised for health workers on clinical case management of COVID-19 on Friday in Jos.
According to Lar, the state has yet to record any confirmed case, but the influx of people from other parts of the country into the state has been threatening the safety measures meant to contain the spread of the virus.
He, therefore, called on the people of the state living elsewhere to remain where they are, pending when lasting solution to contain the pandemic is discovered.
“Currently, we don’t have any confirmed case in Plateau, but the porous nature of our borders is a serious challange. “People come in and out at will, even with the government directives on ground.
“We want to plead with our people living outside the state to remain where they are until we are able to totally contain the spread of the virus.
“One of the easiest ways of spreading this virus is moving from one location to another, and so, if people will remain in one place, we shall overcome it, with ease,” he said.
Lar assured that the state had put in place five isolation centres as part of the measures to contain the spread of the dreaded disease.
He also said a testing centre, domiciled at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, was recently approved for the state.
The state has five isolation centres at Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Plateau Specialist Hospital and Bingham University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), all in Jos. Others include General Hospitals Pankshin and Shendam
