Churches hold services as COVID-19 cases rise to 6 in Bauchi

Several churches in Bauchi state on Sunday held services as positive cases of the Coronavirus rise to six in the state.

Daily Trust reports that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had on Saturday recorded three new positive COVID-19 cases in Bauchi state.

Our correspondent, who went round the Bauchi metropolis, observed that worshippers including men, women and children were seen in their different churches within the town early Sunday morning, just as others were seen returning home after close of service later.

At the St John Evengilical Cathedral behind the Bauchi Stadium, hundreds of worshippers were seen coming out of the church after the Sunday mass despite state government’s directive on gatherings of not more than 50 persons.

Although the State Government did not ban religious gathering, it had urged faithfuls to observe social distance and maintain personal hygiene.

One of the worshippers at Christ Apostolic Church near Abubakar Tafawa Teaching Hospital Bauchi, who gave her name as Comfort, said that the weather in Bauchi will not allow the virus to breathe and spread.

“All those who have coronavirus in Bauchi travel to Europe and get infected; I think the fear should not stop me from worshiping my God,” she said.

The state’s Commissioner of Health, Dr Aliyu Muhammed Maigoro, could not be reached for official comments as at the time of filing this report, as the daily COVID-19 briefings from State officials was postpone to Monday (tomorrow).

However, a source in the state’s ministry of Health confided in Daily Trust that the postponement of daily media breifings was due to the conflicting figure published by the NCDC as two out of the three new positive cases were not part of the samples submitted by the state’s health ministry.