Edo State Government
on Monday confirmed two new cases of Coronavirus, taking the state’s overall
figure to 11.
The State Deputy
Governor and Chairman, Edo State Response Committee on COVID-19, Comrade Philip
Shaibu, disclosed this while briefing journalists on activities of the
committee.
He disclosed that a
total of 235 persons who had contact with the infected persons were currently
being traced.
Shaibu explained
that samples from the 61 persons so far taken for test, 11 came out positive,
and 50 negative.
The deputy governor,
who debunked rumours in social media that the state has no ventilators at the
Stella Obasanjo Hospital, said that the Hospital which had been converted
exclusively to fight infectious diseases, had 28 ventilators.
He added that the
state government donated three ventilators to the University of Benin Teaching
Hospital (UBTH).
Edo State
Coordinator of World Health Organisation (WHO), Faith Ireye, emphasised the
need for staying at home and observing social distancing at public places.
“From the confirmed
cases and contacts that we have seen, we found out that they walked into the
coronavirus.
“The last case, who
are two of the relations tested positive, it was friends, one came from Italy,
another from UK, that he had relation with, that is where he got it.
“Those have gone
back to Italy and UK, and they left the disease with us. So, self-distancing is
very important. If everybody is doing self-distancing and people are staying at
home, we won’t have more cases,” she said.
As part of measures
put in place to curtail the spread of coronavirus, the Deputy Governor
announced that all major markets in Benin, the state capital, would be shut for
one week, with effect from 12 midnight of Tuesday, April 8.
He said the decision
was taken to make way for a proper fumigation of all markets, as part of
measures put in place to tackle the coronavirus.
Shaibu, who
explained that the traders would be relocated to designated public primary and
secondary schools fields within the vicinity off those markets pending the
fumigation of the markets, added that the government decided to take the middle
course instead of a total closure.
According to him,
only 50 dealers in foodstuffs would be accommodated at each of the temporary
markets while the rest of their colleagues would have to wait till April 15
when the markets re-opened after the fumigation.
“Only the fumigators
will be given access to the markets for the duration of the exercise. It is
only the sale of food items that will be allowed at these temporary markets.
The traders will have to be relocated to allow for a proper job of fumigating
the markets,” he said.
Shaibu who announced
that other measures put in place to check the spread of COVID-19, include the
mandatory use of face mask by anyone who must leave his house for any
destination, added that violators would be dealt with according to relevant
law.
While encouraging
everyone to procure face masks, he said the state government had encouraged
garment makers in the state to mass-produce it to make it affordable to the
masses.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com