COVID- 19: Ekiti to prosecute female patient who sneaked into state from Katsina

A COVID-19 patient now undergoing treatment at the Ekiti State Isolation Centre faces prosecution for breaching the order prohibiting interstate movement.

The state government said the woman, who came from Katsina State to visit her husband who is a military officer, committed an offence and would be prosecuted.

The woman was picked up for a test after her husband noticed some symptoms which turned out to be positive for the virus.

In the same vein, seven men who also sneaked through security barricades into the state from Kano and Oyo states have been quarantined.

“Though, It was the husband who alerted us, it was an offence against the state and the Ministry of Justice will take appropriate actions against her at the right time,” the Commissioner for Health, Mojisola Yaya-Kolade, said in Ado Ekiti, on Wednesday.

She said the woman’s husband, who was the only main contact, had also been quarantined in line with the World Health Organisation’s guidelines.

“Let me also tell the public that all the patients in the isolation centre are stable and responding to treatment,” she said.

“And those who are persistently positive to testing are still being kept. With the level we have gone, we have nothing to worry about.

“The only fear we have is the fact that the curfew has been relaxed and people are not observing social distancing.

“People are still coming into the state through the borders via forceful and illegal means.”

Mrs Yaya-Kolade further said the state governor, Kayode Fayemi, was liaising with the federal government for the building of a COVID-19 laboratory in the state.

Also giving updates on the COVID-19 battle, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Health, Jimlas Ogunsakin, said a tip-off reached the task force on the Kano returnees and they had to be rounded up and quarantined.

He also said there were three other females who also entered the state illegally, and had to also be quarantined.

“We got several tip-offs from people and we acted on them,” he said.

“The Kano returnees came to Adeparusi Estate in Adebayo and some came to the Atinkankan area.

“We got the information from the public and we got them arrested and they were quarantined immediately.”

Also on the development, the Commissioner for Information, Muyiwa Olumilua, said the government had constituted an Environmental Task Force, to monitor compliance with protocols at market places, religious centres , banks and by okada riders.

Mr Olumilua said starting from Friday, the security agencies would arrest and prosecute those not using face masks.

Meanwhile, the state government has directed security agencies at the state boundaries and checkpoints to henceforth carry out rigorous checks on vehicles conveying essential commodities across the state.

The Deputy Governor, Bisi Egbeyemi, in a statement on Wednesday, said that most of the COVID-19 cases recorded in Ekiti State were caused by non-residents who illegally entered the state in violation of the orders of the government and appropriate authorities.

He said security agencies would henceforth search all vehicles conveying food, medical and pharmaceuticals, beverages, agricultural products and construction materials coming in and going out of Ekiti State.

He urged the people of the state to be more security conscious in their various localities and report strange faces and movements they notice to the government and security agencies.

Ekiti State has recorded 12 confirmed cases so far, two persons have been treated and discharged.

The number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country has been on the rise, peaking at 2950 as of Tuesday, May 5, 2020. The number of deaths is 98, while 481 persons have been discharged.

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