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Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, on Friday postponed resumption of workers at the State Secretariat from to Monday, April 20, to April 27, 2020, subject to further evaluation based on the circumstances closer to that time.
Makinde stated this during a press briefing after the state’s COVID-19 Task Force meeting held at Government House, Agodi.
The governor also the two new coronavirus cases recorded in the state yesterday were as a result of the on going test exercise at Adamasingba stadium.
He said: “We were informed that two more tests came back positive. So, we have four new cases from the tests being conducted at Adamasingba stadium. This brings the number of active cases in Oyo State to seven.
“It has been our aspiration to test a lot more people and we think as we do this mass testing, we can see the pattern of the virus within our environment and from those results, we can implement appropriate measures designed to deal with the situation.
“While the 100-bed Infectious Disease Centre at Olodo is ready to receive cases, we are already upgrading the isolation centre at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. The Maternal and Child Health Centre, Saki is also being converted to an isolation centre.
“The General Hospital at Igbo-Ora is being evaluated for a section of it to be used as an isolation centre.”
Makinde further stated that the state government will produce an initial one million cloth face masks to kick start the mask in public places policy for Oyo State. He said 100 tailors will be commissioned by Monday, April 20 to make 10,000 face masks each.
“As I stated at an earlier interview, one of the measures we considered to prevent, contain and control the spread of COVID-19 in Oyo State is the compulsory use of face masks in public. Today, we reached a decision to implement this measure.
“We are collaborating with experts who have already designed these face masks to train the tailors on how to make them, ” the governor said.
He added that food security is a major issue which the state must address, noting this is planting season and the government want to ensure that the farmers are able to farm.
” So, we are ramping up on enlightenment of the farmers on how best to remain safe during the planting season.
“We are also collaborating with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IART) to get seedlings for the farmers so that they don’t miss the planting season,” Makinde said.
The governor said the state is still working on palliatives, adding “we now have the data & we’re sure that we’ve been able to identify the poorest of the poor in our environment. Palliatives will be distributed by the end of next week. We want to ensure that the palliatives get to those who actually need them.”
He continued: “Let me use this opportunity to thank our health workers. This government will continue to make their welfare our priority and ensure that they are adequately protected as they remain on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19 in Oyo State.
“I also thank members of the press for the balanced reporting of the activities of the Oyo State Government as we do everything humanly possible to contain the spread of COVID-19 in our state.”