- Imposes 7 to 7 Dusk to Dawn Curfew
From John Oghojafor (The New Diplomat’s South South Bureau Chief)
As the Delta State government, backed by the state chapter of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, intensifies the contact tracing of those who had contacts with the three confirmed cases of the virus in Delta State, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa has extended the lockdown of the state by another two weeks.
Announcing this in a statewide broadcast today, Gov. Okowa regretted that although the lockdown had negatively affected Deltans, it has become imperative to extend the stay-at-home order to enable government round up the remaining people who had contacts with the three confirmed cases in the state.
It would be recalled that although Delta State closed its boundaries two days before locking down the state for two weeks, there have been three confirmed cases of infected infected persons in the state with one of them already dead.
Announcing the new measures to curb the spread of the virus in the state, Gov. Okowa assured that contact tracing, testing and isolation of patients are to be intensified.
He said: “We want to assure you that we have continued to do contact tracing. 70 contacts have been identified, 46 of them have actually been reached and we are still doing our best to get the remaining 24.
“Some persons have been isolated in their homes or what we refer to as self-isolation and that is when the officials involved have been able to get the satisfaction that such persons can truly be isolated in their homes.”
The governor also informed that those who could not be isolated in their homes are currently being isolated at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital facility in Oghara and two other centre in the state.
“But some other persons that could not be isolated in their homes, they are currently being isolated in three different centres.
“We have 2 cases that are active; one is being managed at the Oghara centre i.e the Delta State University—we have created a center in that place, and one also is being managed at our Infectious Disease Centre at Asaba. Both persons are doing very well”, he added.
Gov. Okowa however advised that although Covid-19 is not a death sentence, it has the capacity of affecting everyone irrespective of social status, just as he admonished Deltans to continue to obey the rules and also pray for God’s intervention.
He said: “Anyone could be exposed, anyone could be infected, both the high and the low, the rich and the poor.
“So it is for all of us to continue to obey the rules and praying also that God will intervene in the situation in our State, in our nation and the world over.”
While announcing the two weeks extension for a thorough contact tracing, Gov. Okowa frowned at the attitude of some Deltans who resume normal social activities in the night in disobedience to stay-at-home order. He therefore imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in the state to hold between the hours of 7pm to 7am with effect from April 15, 2020.
“We have also observed that because the law enforcement agents tend to slow down in the evenings, there are people who have been moving around and that some beer parlours and businesses have started to open to the public in the evenings.
“And because of that, I want to now take action to be able to stop the process of escalating infections.
“Therefore, I am going to direct the Commissioner of police that from 7pm -7am nobody is expected to be seen outside.
“A dusk to dawn curfew is hereby imposed with effect from tomorrow (15/04/20) until the next 14 days.
“Only persons on essential duties are exempted. We have previously given a list of those on essential duties”, he said.
Gov. Okowa also announced the government preparedness to distribute food items to Deltans to cushion the hardship caused by the lockdown, even as he appealed to good-spirited Nigerians to generously donate and assist the poor just as he thanked those who have donated either cash or food to the state food bank.
“We have also put in place a food bank, we are getting the last stalks of the initial order and by the special grace of God in the next 42-72 hours food would be sent across to support our people who do not have access to food in all wards of the state.
“We will use the federal wards as a means to distribution concerning this and it is to all Deltans and not restricted to party politics.
“I also want to use this opportunity to thank all those who have made donations to our various accounts and those who have made donations in kind to the food bank.
“And I want to also encourage all Deltans to continue to assist the poor. We will remain accountable and we will ensure that the monies and food items donated will be put into proper use”, he assured,” he said.
The governor however urged the security agencies charged with the enforcement of the stay at home order to be up and doing.
