The National Youth Service Corps has on Wednesday said that all camp members would be tested for the virus upon admission into the orientation camp. This comes ahead of the Batch B Stream II orientation exercise.
The organization also announced that it had received 60,000 test kits from Theophilus Danjuma Foundation to enhance the testing process. The foundation through its Emergency Task Force on COVID-19 has been engaging in a series of interventions across multiple sectors since last year to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable populations.
The announcement was made by the NYSC Director, Press and Public Relations, Adenike Adeyemi, during a briefing in Abuja. The Director stated that, “The T.Y Danjuma Foundation donated 60,000 COVID-19 test kits. The National Agency for the Control of AIDS donated 72,000 RDT kits. Vaccinated or not, everyone must undergo the compulsory COVID-19 test before entering NYSC orientation camp”.
In addition, all corps members reporting to their states of deployment are warned that everyone would undergo the compulsory COVID–19 testing before they would be allowed into the camps nationwide, regardless of their vaccination statuses.
While insisting that only persons who test negative would be allowed into the camps, the NYSC added that PCMs or camp officials whose results were reactive or positive will be released to the Nigeria Centre for a Disease Control Surveillance team in camp.
Recall that, in April, the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC), through the Victims Support Fund (VSF) donated 60,000 Rapid Test Kits to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to support the nation’s response to the pandemic.
The Chairperson of the VSF’s Task Force on COVID-19, Mrd Akerele-Ogunsiji, said that the main objective for the donation is to strengthen infection prevention control in NYSC camps and promptly identify outbreaks of COVID-19 in camps for treatment.
