COVID-19 lockdown: Abia Govt goes tough against residents violating use of face masks order 

The Abia State Government says it has come to its notice that majority of Abians and even those on essential duties move around towns and cities without wearing their face masks, thereby violating extant laws on the use of face masks in the State.

The state government in a press release signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and Chairman, Abia State COVID-19 Committee, Barrister Chris Ezem and issued to newsmen in Umuahia, Thursday, directed security operatives, State and Local Government Enforcement Teams to apprehend and hand over culpable persons to Abia Mobile Courts on Covid-19 lockdown operating in various zones in the State for prosecution.

The release also added the general public is strongly advised to comply accordingly with extant laws made to contain the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Abia State government has said it had traced 262 persons that had contacts with the two COVID-19 index cases in the state.

The State Commissioner for Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, announced this in a statement obtained by reporters in Umuahia, the state capital, Wednesday.

Okiyi said the government was actively following 221 persons.

The commissioner explained that the sample of a police officer from Bayelsa State, who died at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital in Aba, among other 31 high-risk samples so far taken and tested from contacts of the index cases, returned negative.

According to him, the state is collaborating with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to train relevant medical personnel to handle COVID-19 cases.

“Our index cases, both of who were patients of Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, are stable and receiving care at the isolation facility of the hospital. We are optimistic that even as geriatric patients, who are above 70 years old and with underlying medical conditions, God will use the firm and experienced hands of our medics to bring them back to good health.”