Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.

By Stanley Nwanosike

Enugu State government on Wednesday urged residents to adopt the “new normal” of wearing a face mask and maintaining social/physical distancing in their daily activities.

Dr George Ugwu, the Executive Secretary of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency (ENS-PHCDA), made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.

According to Ugwu, the second wave of COVID-19 is real and causing devastation.

He directed health workers, especially those at the primary healthcare centres (PHCs) to re-enact the sensitisation they had learnt in their previous COVID-19 training.

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“We have directed health workers, especially those in PHC centres, to enhance their depth of suspicion.

“They have also been directed to ensure that any patient in their facilities, who shows the case definition of COVID-19 symptoms, be kept in the bay area (buffer area) in the facilities.

“These symptoms include coughing, sneezing, sore throat, fever and difficulty in breathing.

“They should call the state COVID-19 Task Force immediately. There should be no negligence on the quick referral of patients to the task force,’’ he said.

The ENS-PHCDA boss also urged PHC workers to always operate under strict compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

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“Also, they should always put on their face masks and hand gloves as they attend to each patient and wash or sanitise their hands with alcohol-based sanitiser thereafter.

“They should ensure social/physical distancing among the patients as well as keep running tap bucket with water and soap to ensure handwashing for every patient in their facilities,’’ he said.

Ugwu said that the state government, through Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, was passionate about the protection of the frontline health workers in the state.

“Ugwuanyi has graciously provided personal protective equipment (PPE) to PHC centres and has also ensured that PPE provision is well captured in the 2021 budget,’’ he added.

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NAN