After months of denial, Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has eaten the humble pie as he announced total lockdown of Kabba Bunu Local Government Area of the State following his acceptance of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in his State, which he had consistently denied.
The Governor who announced the lockdown on Monday in Lokoja said the two weeks lockdown in Kabba Bunu local government area was to enhance rapid testing and contact tracing.
Bello who made the announcement at a press briefing said the lockdown would be total restriction of movement of persons and vehicles as part of measures to curtail the spread of the Disease.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced an Index Case, the Chief Imam of Kabba who tested positive for covid19 last week.
Even on Sunday, less than 24 hours to Governor Bello’s conference announcement, officials of his administration were still attacking the NCDC for saying there was Coronavirus infections in the State, which is a major transit point for passengers transiting form Northern to Southern Nigeria and vice versa.
The lockdown, which begins from Monday, 1st of June, 2020, is effective from 12 midnight June 2nd and there shall be no house to house movement within the local government area.
Said the Governor, “Street movement is completely prohibited within the local government area for the period while Palliative materials would be distributed house to house within the local government area”
“Contact tracing should be carried out house to house to identify those who might have made contact with the alleged Kogi COVID-19 index persons; the Chief Imam of Kabba and his Son within the local government area”
He also directed that the State incident management team should continue to carry out the contact tracing while enforcement of the lock down order shall be fully covered by the mainstream media.
Bello equally directed that Health workers who might have made contact with the alleged index case should proceed on self-isolation.
The Governor then charged security agencies in the state to enforce total compliance with the lock down order, pointing out that “citizens and residents of the state should continue to adhere to the NCDC guidelines.”