Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has imposed a 10-day dusk-to-dawn curfew with effect from Monday, April 20, as part of efforts to check the spread of coronavirus in the state.
He disclosed that the COVID-19 testing centre at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) is ready to commence operation.
The governor said with curfew, movement of people throughout the state is restricted from 7pm to 6am.
According to him, the order will be reviewed after 10 days, when increased screening and testing of citizens in the state must have been achieved.
Obaseki, who said this in Benin while briefing journalist on Sunday, said the curfew is part of additional measures to ensure that people stay at home and prevent further spread of the infectious disease.
“We realise we need to do more social distancing at this time. Therefore, we are taking additional measures to ensure that people stay at home.
“Consequently, with effect from tomorrow 20th April [there is] an order prohibiting movement of people in Edo State from 7pm to 6am. This order will be reviewed after 10 days when we have increased our screening and testing of our citizens,” he said.
He urged the security agencies to enforce total compliance by ensuring that movement is restricted at night across the State.
Obaseki also disclosed that the testing centre at the UBTH will in the next few days begin testing for 1000 residents daily.
“I am glad to inform you that the testing centre at the UBTH is now ready. We have begun trial tests under the guidance of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC); we expect it will commence full operations this week,” he said.
He added that his administration has also taken delivery of another PCR testing machine currently being installed at the Edo Specialist Hospital.
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