The Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, on Friday said the state’s COVID-19 Response Fund Committee raised N800m to fight the disease in the state.
The governor commended the committee for carrying out its assignment diligently. He said a newly inaugurated molecular biology laboratory was built from the money raised by the committee.
He also expressed delight with the fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease in the state as he said there were no more COVID-19 patients in the state’s isolation centres.
Akeredolu said these on Thursday at the inauguration of the molecular biology laboratory of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo.
“We are happy that there are no patients in Ondo isolation centres,” he said.
He said although the spread of COVID-19 in the country was reducing, this had not in any way diminished the need for a molecular biology laboratory as Lassa fever was still prevalent in the state.
“The funds from development partners channelled through the Federal Government assisted us in appropriately equipping the laboratory,” he said.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, UNIMED, Prof Adesegun Fatusi, explained that the molecular biology laboratory would facilitate the diagnosis of COVID-19, Lassa fever, and other deadly infections.
He said, “The facilities in the laboratory will complement other equipment we have competitively won from the Seeding Labs, United States, and more recently from the Cancer Control Initiative.
“These facilities will also drive the use of molecular genomic techniques to better understand and address the challenges of diseases like cancer and diabetes as well as diagnose genetic disorders and provide DNA paternity testing.”