Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau, says the state government would aggressively enforce preventive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, as confirmed cases in the state rise to 17.
Lalong said this in a statement issued by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr Makut Macham, on Sunday in Jos.
“We are now going into aggressive enforcement of the regulations we rolled out as that is the best way for us to contain the rising cases.
“From all the cases we have, there is none that originated within the state; all of them are from people who sneaked into the state from our borders despite the closure.
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“We will not allow this to continue especially at this time that we are doing contact tracing and working hard to curb community spread,” he said.
The governor urged for cooperation and concerted efforts to achieve effective contact tracing and stop community spread of the virus.
He appealed for calm, saying residents should not panic but continue to strictly adhere to preventive measures and regulations to combat the disease.
Lalong also urged residents to comply with the restriction of movement order, use of face masks, adherence to social distancing and observing personal and respiratory hygiene.
He expressed concern that some violators of the regulations on COVID-19 were instigating other residents to also disregard government directives.
“It is sad and unfair for people to take this position and try to instigate others to disregard our regulations. COVID-19 is real and for me, I lost two friends recently, one in Lagos and the other in Bauchi.
“They were both classmates and lawyers. Let us not put people at risk by not only being careless but discouraging others from doing the right thing.
“I appeal to our people to take serious precaution and stay at home while observing all the regulations”, the governor said.
Lalong said that the total lockdown in the State, earlier relaxed, would resume midnight of Sunday, May 10, warning that violators would be arrested and prosecuted by mobile courts.
He also said essential vehicles would not be allowed into the state after 6 pm, until the next day by 7:00 AM, to ensure thorough checks and medical examination.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Plateau currently has 17 confirmed cases, with its first index case now discharged.