Okowa enacts 24/7 dusk to dawn curfew in Delta as 24 COVID-19 suspects abscond

By Ebi Perekeme

Following the footsteps of the federal government, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa during a state-wide broadcast on Tuesday extended the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown in Delta State, giving reasons why the extension of the lockdown is necessary.

GbaramatuVoice reports Governor Okowa during the state-wide broadcast on Tuesday said the extension of the lockdown, among others reasons, is necessary because of the upscale in the number of cases nationally and the need to ease the process of contact tracing, the stay at home order has become more necessary.

“You will recall that the lockdown order within the State started on the 1st of April 2020. Two days before then, we have actually stopped entry into the State, except for goods that are considered very essential.

“On the 7th of April, we had our incident case of COVID-19 in Delta State. That was the 7th day of the lockdown. Three cases have thus far been identified in Delta State. We lost one of the cases. That case presented very late at our centre and the patient had other ailments and that led to the death of the patient. The test result came out positive after the patient had passed away.

“We want to assure you that we have continued to do contact tracing. 70 contacts have been identified. 46 of them, have been reached and we are trying our best to get the remaining 24. Some persons have been isolated in their homes or what we refer to as self-isolation. That is when the officials involved have been able to get the satisfaction that such persons can truly be isolated in their homes. Some other persons that cannot be isolated in their homes, they are currently being isolated in three different centres.

“We have two cases that are active. One is being managed at the Oghara centre. That is the Delta State University Teaching Hospital. We created a centre in that place. And one also is being managed at our infectious disease centre at Asaba. Both persons are doing very well.

“We have four treatment centres on the whole. The Infectious Disease Centre built by the Delta State Government at the Federal Medical Centre Asaba; the Asaba Specialist Hospital, which currently is our biggest centre; the Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara is third; and the centre at the Warri Central Hospital will come on stream fully today.

“All these centres also have isolation facilities. We have attempted to create our isolation centres in such a manner that people will not cross-infect others. That is why we are using the single room option for the isolation of suspected cases until they test positive.

“I want to advise our people that COVID-19 is a viral illness that has continued to ravage the world. But it is not a death sentence. Many of the cases are mild and many of them, they recover. As at today, we are aware that there are only 10 deaths in Nigeria even when we have 343 cases already confirmed in Nigeria.

“I, therefore, want to urge our people to avoid all forms of stigmatization, and the best corporation we will have from the people, we want those who may fall ill to truly identify themselves in the best interest of the people. 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.