COVID-19: Kwara Govt Extends Lockdown By 14 Days

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, on Thursday extended the lockdown imposed on the state by another 14 days to check the spread of coronavirus in the state.

The governor announced this in Ilorin, the state capital, during the flag-off of the biometric registration of transporters slated to receive soft loans to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown.

AbdulRazaq said the extension of the lockdown by another 14 days was in accordance with the position of the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).

He added that the state recorded two new cases of COVID-19 early Thursday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 11.

The governor added that the two new cases were contacts of the previously confirmed cases.

He said: “The lockdown for another two weeks is to reduce the number of cases. As you can see, Kano is going up; Lagos is going up. Even in Kwara, we have two more new cases.

“So there is the need for boundaries to be locked down. Essentially, each state has different policies on lockdown but we want to ensure that people are not moving across boundaries to transmit the virus.”

According to the governor, the internal restriction on vehicular movements in the state remains in force, while the government will step up measures to gradually lift the restrictions and rejuvenate the economy, including the mandatory use of face masks.

AbdulRazaq said the face masks would be mass-produced by indigenous tailors, who, he said, had already been briefed.

The governor added that about N100 million would be disbursed as non-interest loans to 20,000 transporters after the ongoing enumeration across the state. (NAN)