Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, on Tuesday, imposed an indefinite 7.pm to 7.am curfew in the state to check the spread of the deadly COVID-19.
Akeredolu announced the imposition in Akure at a press briefing at the Government House.
A third positive case was confirmed by the state government on Monday.
He explained that the third case was not a member of the NYSC as earlier believed, “but an employee of the Nigerian Army Barracks who served the nation as a medical practitioner in the same facility in the year 2017 and was retained. ”
Akeredolu further explained that the third positive case came in contact with the index case, an army officer, while treating him as a suspected case in the clinic at the army base.
The governor also said reports showed that business owners, especially beer parlours, had disobeyed the stay- at-home order hence warranting the curfew.
“There is the need for effective measure of containment, investigation, enforcement and control, and government will not shy away from its duty to ensure same.
“To this end, I have directed further sterner measures to enforce compliance to these regulations,” he said.
Apart from the imposition of the curfew, the governor also ordered the arrest and detention of individuals found to have breached government’s directives on restriction of movement of persons and goods.
Also to be arrested, he said, were those caught operating business premises and community markets as well as those at religious gatherings and public bars or engaged in other social activities within the state.
The governor, however, said that the only exceptions were where food and medical items were sold with total compliance to social and physical distancing.
According to him, another new regulation is the arrest and detention of individuals and goods being transported into the state through the borders in breach of extant directive on total closure of such borders.
“The only exceptions allowed are for purposes of obtaining food, seeking emergency lifesaving or chronic medical attention or obtaining security pass for such journeys in accordance with our regulations,” he said.
Akeredolu further said such sacrifices were needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
