COVID-19: Ogun govt confirms 42 new cases, as teachers give conditions for reopening of schools 

The Ogun State government has confirmed that the State has recorded no fewer than 42 new cases of COVID-19 in the state.

This was confirmed on Tuesday by the State government which informed in a statement that the fresh cases were recorded on Monday.

The statement also informed that the 42 cases recorded now brings the total number of confirmed cases in the State to 1047 since the outbreak of the pandemic.

“This is as 4 other cases were discharged, bringing to 641, the overall number of discharged cases.

“At the moment, the State is managing a total of 385 active cases, having recorded 21 related deaths since the index case was reported 6 months ago. Please, stay safe,” the state government said on its Twitter handle.

In a related development, Public school teachers in Ogun state on Tuesday listed conditions Governor Dapo Abiodun must first meet before reopening schools in the state.

The state chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Titilope Adebanjo, unveiled the conditions which included; provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), infrared thermometers, hand sanitizers, among other safety items in schools before reopening.

READ ALSO: Ogun govt suspends planned reopening of worship centres

While speaking during an interaction with reporters at the union’s Secretariat in Abeokuta, the state capital, Adebanjo insisted that the conditions must be evidentially met before schools can reopen in the state.

Adebanjo said: “As a union, we know that we have a responsibility and this necessitated us to present a position paper to Ogun state government as we are looking forward for reopening of our schools.

“We hear some opinions somewhere that teachers in public schools are not ready to go back to work. We are saying emphatically that our teachers are ready to go back to work. In fact, we are tired of staying at home.

“The first on the list is to make sure that the government to fumigate every part of the school environment. And we put it to them also to make sure that they provide infrared thermometers to all our schools at least to get the temperature of our students.

“We put it across to them also to make sure that they train our teachers in line with the position of this COVID-19. The training of teachers is very, very important, so that when teachers are trained to use these thermometers they can also read them and even to observe a pupil or a student that is having issue medically or the other.

“Another thing is to make provision for portable water, running one for that matter available in all our schools, along with soaps and alcohol based sanitizers. All these must be on ground before schools are reopened.

“We also recommended to them that at least within a kilometer of a school, there must be a health personnel that in case if there is an emergency, we can easily report to them. We are teachers we are not doctors, we are not nurses. But the most important thing is make sure that PPE is readily available in our schools,” he concluded.

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