Few days ago, the Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir Ahmad El-rufai appeared in a short video clip informing the people of the state, that some people close to him, including an immediate family member and senior official of the Kaduna State Government have tested positive of the COVID-19.
He appealed to the residents of the state to observe all the protocols and preventive measures of COVID-19 such as washing of hands, wearing of face masks, physical distancing and so on.
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Meanwhile, the governor is in self isolation in line with the precautionary guidelines of the COVID-19 awaiting a test on Sunday.
Moreover, the state ministry of health released a press breafing acknowledging the rising rates of COVID-19 cases in the state. The statement which was read by the Commissioner Of Health Hajiya Amina Mohammed- Baloni said among other things that ~
The State Ministry of health wishes to update public on the rising rate of COVID-19 in the state and appeal for an urgent actions by the residents to curtail the spread of the disease and save lives.
The state is now recording high infection figures reminiscent of the first wave of COVID-19 spread in April, May and June, 2020. The conditions that compelled 75 days lockdown is now being replicated.
On 26th November, 2020, of the 531 samples taken in the state, 75 were positives; so also, on 11th September, 2020, the state recorded 117 positive cases from 518 samples.
The current wave of increase in the spread of infections is due to the reopening of schools, markets, places of worship and recreational centers as earlier expected by the government.
If the rate of spread retain or exceeds the current pace, the government will have no option than to recommend the temporary closure of schools, markets, offices and places of worship.
Now that the government has announced the closure of entire school in the state, another lockdown is imminent. What we wait to see is whether the people of the state would comply or not.
With the schools reopened and other business activities back to normalcy, imposing a lock down in the state will throw out the already impoverished people into more hardships and difficulties.
Hence, the government needs to desist from this ill decision.
The government should take a critical look into this decision it is about to take to avoid backlash from the public.
This is in view of the economic hardship people have been thrown into already.
Safiyanu Ladan writes from Zaria
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