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Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, in order to ensure strict compliance with executive orders banning gatherings of more than 20 persons in the state, inaugurated on Monday an enforcement task force to forestall the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
It was also disclosed that 37 out of 42 persons suspected to have had direct contacts with the index case that spread the disease into Ekiti had been identified and put under quarantine.
Members of the governor’s task force include 16 council chairmen, representatives from the Nigeria Army, Department of State Services, Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Corps, market men and women, Ekiti State environmental inspectors and representatives other ethnic nationalities.
Inaugurating the committee, Fayemi, represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Gbenga Agbeyo, said the government was not happy about the way the order banning gatherings of more than 20 persons was being defied.
Terms of reference to be executed by the task force, according to the governor, are: “To ensure that all private and public schools in the state are closed; that there is no gathering of more than 20 persons anywhere in the state; that all public transport carries the required number of people; and ensure that all market men and women practice hand washing in their shops.”
The governor charged the chairmen to prevail on the religious leaders in their councils to stop huge crowds while conducting their services.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Mojisola Yaya-Kolade, revealed that 37 persons, apart from the driver of the person who had tested positive for COVID-19, are in self-isolation in the state.
“Medical history had shown that people coming from highly endemic countries like China, England, Italy and America, were the ones importing the disease to Nigeria.
“In Italy, about 793 persons died in a day and 600 the subsequent day. Today, over 5,000 have died in that country. We pray this doesn’t happen in Ekiti and that is why we must take precautions.
“The governor, as a way of containing the infection, banned burials, weddings, political and family meetings, church services and other congregations that are more than 20, but sad enough some people are still flouting the order.
“Despite the way the disease had ravaged China and Italy, they are gradually overcoming, because their citizens are obeying all orders.
“It wasn’t that Governor Fayemi was autocratic by giving those orders, it was meant for our safety and we have to cooperate with him”, she advised.
