The Bauchi State Government has declared a total lockdown of three LGAs in the state, Giade, Katagum and Zaki to support the fighta gainst coronavirus.
Declaring the total lockdown on Sunday, Governor Bala Mohammed said that the lockdown will take effect from Tuesday 12th May 2020 and will last for an initial ten days, to monitor the situation and determine the next line of action.
The governor decried the attitude of the people of the Northern zone of the state particularly the three LGAs from which a total of 44 positive new cases were returned in one day saying that the situation is unacceptable by his administration.
He further added that in spite of the series of calls, the people still travel to Kano on a daily basis from where they import the infection, thereby making it a community transmission problem.
The governor further directed the Deputy Governor, Sen Baba Tela to proceed to Azare to ensure that the total lockdown order is fully implemented.
He said, “we share borders with Kano and Jigawa so our people from the Northern zone find it very easy to go to Hadejia and other towns for businesses from where they get infected and bring it to transmit among the people innocently. We must put a stop to the trend”.
He added that “The situation is very alarming, just as I was talking to you, another informative came in that additional 27 positive cases from the area arrived, you can imagine what we are saying”.
The Governor then appealed to the people of Bauchi State to continue to adhere strictly to all the prescribed public health protocols put in place by the government to curtail community transmission of the infection.
He also appealed to the testing center in Jos to release the results of samples sent for testing from the state assuring that his government is working round the clock to have a COVID-19 test laboratory in the state to ease the problem of testing.
On the deaths in Azare, the Governor disclosed that available records show that in the last 30 days a total of 120 deaths have been recorded.
He said a majority of the dead were old people, those who died in childbirth and others who had terminal illnesses. We only have one COVID-19 related death in the entire state”.