Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has insisted that the two weeks total lockdown in the state is not negotiable, calling for a total
compliance from residents of the state.
The governor’s stance and apparent fear among residents follows the announcement of 6 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the state by the NCDC.
In a state broadcast on Monday, the governor said the 6 cases were travellers intercepted by the Action Committee inaugurated to contain the spread of COVID 19 in the state.
“We all woke up this morning to the shocking news of six confirmed cases of COVID-19 by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, from samples taken from persons already quarantined by the State Task Force who are presently at the NYSC isolation center, Sibre”
“The persons are among 130 interstate travellers from Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Ogun and Lagos states intercepted at our borders. You will recall that the committee had earlier intercepted on two occasions 65 and 59 persons from Ogun state en route Adamawa State and were allowed to proceed amid tight security”
“I, therefore, commend the proactive steps of the committee which led to the isolation and identification of the reported cases”
“I wish to assure the good people of Taraba State that this is not a time for panic as the Government is on top of the situation. Additional manpower and resources have been mobilized and deployed to trace contacts of all those that have tested positive to the coronavirus, immediately”
“It is quite unfortunate that the reported outbreak came about despite the robust proactive steps taken by my administration to prevent the virus from entering our dear State”
“You will recall that immediately the index case was identified in the country, we took a number of preventive steps such as the closure of our land borders with neighbouring states as well as the international boundary with the Republic of Cameroon. We also closed temporarily places of worship, schools, markets and other public places that attract large crowds”