TheCable

Federal capital territory administration (FCTA) has converted the national centre for women development (NCWD) to an isolation centre for the management of COVID-19 patients.

Ramatu Aliyu, minister of state (FCT), said this when she inspected the centre on Monday in Abuja.

“This centre has a very large hall of about 100-bed capacity and we also have about 60 suites in the centre.

“This gives you a total of 160-bed spaces. This tells you how much we can accommodate in case we have increase in the number of patients to be isolated,” Aliyu said.

The administration had carried out checks on the facility as it was decontaminated to guard against the spread of the deadly virus.

“We are here at the National Centre for Women Development to fumigate the premises completely, not only to check COVID-19 spread, but to also check insects and rodents.

“We are not praying that there should be an increase in the number of cases, but we should be ready to accommodate them and we are ready,” she said.

Mary Ekpere-Eta, director-general of the centre, informed Aliyu that besides the 160-bed spaces, the centre classrooms could also be converted to accommodate additional 300 patients.

It is said to have two industrial kitchens capable of catering for the patients.

As of Monday morning, 56 cases were reported in the federal capital territory (FCT), while 323 confirmed cases have been recorded across the country with 85 discharged patients and 10 deaths.