Why We Extend Coronavirus Lockdown By Another One Week- Gov Abiodun
ABIODUN JIMOH, ABEOKUTA
The hope of Ogun State people to be free from the coronavirus pandemic lockdown was dashed on Friday as Governor Dapo Abiodun extended the stay at home order by another one week.
This is making it the second time in a row that such high expectation would be dimmed by the governor who is bent on protecting the lives of the residents from the deadly disease that has claimed thousands of lives globally.
With the current lockdown earlier expected to be lifted on Saturday, governor Abiodun at a media briefing held on Friday in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta announced another one week of lockdown, while the relaxation windows hours still remain as usual.
In his speech, Abiodun who expressed sadness over increasing case of COVID-19 pandemic across the state noted that it became necessary for the extension in order to checkmate further spread of virus.
Similarly, he affirmed that there was a need to balance public health and safety against economic activity, nonetheless, while the government has intensified sensitization and moral-suasion of the people.
He said: ”In our dear Ogun State, we thank God that that we have continued to receive His grace. But the fact is that we are recording an astronomical increase in the number of confirmed cases of covid-19, a number which was single digit for almost three weeks before the lockdown, has suddenly jumped to three digits within days, even with the lockdown and the window for relaxation.
”In the last one week, the number of confirmed cases in the atate has risen to more than double. As at Thursday, May 7th 2020, we had 100 confirmed cases of Covid- 19 in Ogun State. 20 of them have been discharged to re-join their respective families and restart normal life.
”Unfortunately, we have recorded a total of two deaths. This leaves us with 78 active cases who are currently receiving efficient treatment at our treatment centers. As usual, we hope and pray that they will also be discharged in due course.”
Speaking further, he averred that his administration has continued to ensure that they increased their pace and widen the coverage of their testing process. Adding that as at today, they have screened over 10,000 people and tested over 700.
“In addition to that, they have intensified their contact tracing capacity and have traced over 551 contacts of the COVID-19 positive patients. We are doing this to detect and treat people who are already infected rather than leaving them undetected which will be more detrimental because this will increase community transmission.
In the same vein, he notified that his administration in the last one week has added another treatment and isolation center with 65 bed spaces in Abeokuta.
“This facility is separate from and in addition to the 70 bed treatment centre at the newly renovated infectious diseases hospital in Iberekodo, Abeokuta, thus bringing the combined total bed spaces for treatment of COVID-19 patients in Ogun State to over 300.”
”My dear people of Ogun State, while I am not a prophet of doom, I will rather err on the side of responsibility. Reports reaching us have shown that many of our people are showing utter disregard for the precautionary guidelines, international best practices and safety measures rolled out, especially, during the window of relaxation of the lockdown.
”We have heard and seen the havoc that COVID-19 continues to wreck in other lands. Let us learn from these experiences. While we appreciate that medical scientists are working frantically to develop a vaccine and cure for COVID-19 and our traditional medicine practitioners also said they are working on possible solutions.
”We must also know that the solutions may still take a couple of months to materialise. Before that time, our fate as a people is in our hands. Thank God, the virus has identifiable weakn
