Joe Effiong, Uyo
The Akwa Ibom State Government has extended the COVID-19 lockdown in the state by another four days to provisionally expire on Monday, April 27th.
This is the second time the state has extended the lockdown which was initially declared by Governor Udom Emmanuel for 14 days, from April 3rd to 16th.
The secretary to the state government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, on same April 16th, had announced the extension of the lockdown by seven days to expire on April 23rd.
But in a press conference in his office on Thursday, Ekuwem said in view of the critical situation of the COVID-19 in the country, the start would further extend the lockdown till Monday, April 27th.
He lamented that “although it would have been desirable to call off the lockdown at this juncture, given that we must ensure continuous safety of our citizens, the most ideal thing, for now, is to continue with the lockdown until Monday, April 27, 2020, where we will provide an update on the lockdown at a press briefing.
“To this end, everyone is advised to continue to cooperate with the government and the security agencies in the bid to curb community spreading of the virus,” Ekuwem said.
The SSG, however, enthused that while that has been a very pathetic and astronomic rise in the number of cases of coronavirus infection in different parts of the world, and even in some parts of Nigeria, the situation in the state has providentially been minimal.
“The low incidence level of Coronavirus has not been without efforts and pragmatic inputs from the leadership of the state. The governor, working with the COVID-19 Management Committee, the Incidence Management Committee, health workers and other stakeholders, has deployed resources, financial and material to ensure the pandemic is kept at bay for as much as possible.
“So far, only 9 cases have been confirmed in our state. Thankfully, we have had three reversed to negative and have been discharged. Although we still have five active cases and one dead, the sincerity of our government in the fight against the pandemic as not gone on noticed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. In a recent publication by the national body, our contact-tracing scored 99%
“The three reversed cases of coronavirus are evidenced by the quality of healthcare available in our isolation centres. From the testimonies of the survivors, who were full of praises and prayers for the governor, the isolation environments were very comforting while they sojourned therein.”
“Many people are not aware of the huge resources the administration is expending to keep our state free of coronavirus and other diseases. Over the last two weeks, we have embarked on the de-contamination of major towns and cities across the three senatorial districts of our state. Though the exercise has cost the state so much money, yet it has been worthwhile,” Ekuwem said.