Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi on Thursday threatened to shut down the International Market in the state for seven days if the traders continue to flout the COVID-19 law.
The governor lamented that the traders are still being careless despite the rising cases of Covid-19 in the state
Umahi stated this during this week’s live broadcast on the coronavirus pandemic after an enlarged Security Council meeting at the old government house, Abakaliki, the state capital.
He said special taskforce will soon be constituted by his administration to enforce the use of facemasks.
According to him, defaulters will be arrested and prosecuted.
He lamented that many people have refused to wear their nose masks while moving in the public which he said was contrary to the government policy in the fight against the pandemic.
“We have to observe all the precautionary measures and I continue to say that there is no movement outside without nose masks, this is very important. I am going to set up Governor’s special taskforce who will go round and arrest those who don’t have it.
“We are determined that if we evaluate the remaining days in this week and by next week, we may declare 7-days warning closure of the international market because up till now, the traders don’t listen to our instruction on this pandemic.
“We are working to renovate the entire 13 general hospital in the state. Presently, we do over 100 tests every day. We have two test machines now, we are going to deploy the second one today and our result is still about 2 in every 100 tested. For me, it is still a good outing and the moment somebody shows up on time and follows the protocol, the person will be discharged within 7-10 days,” he stated.
He Explained that the state has a total of 162 cases of the coronavirus pandemic with 72 patients who tested positives treated and discharged, leaving about 90 active cases.
He added that out of the 162 cases, only four of them showed symptoms while the rest did not.
Credit: The Nation