Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The Kwara State Government, on Wednesday, was yet to announce the modality it would approve for churches and mosques as ban on congregational worships is relaxed.
The Federal Government which announced the relaxation had added a proviso that states in the country would have the rights to design the modality it would adopt to permit Christian and Muslim worships in their respective States.
The Kwara State Government had said through a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaiye, that it would soon announce the modalities for relaxing the lockdown order on worship centres in the state.
Ajakaiye had said, “The government sincerely commends the patience and understanding of our religious and traditional rulers while urging them to actively join the sensitization campaign about the virus.
“Government is to meet with the leadership of the Muslim and Christian communities in the state on Wednesday to fashion out the way forward on the proposed reopening of worship centres.
Meanwhile, the state government said the sudden peak in the number of COVID-19 cases, on Monday, followed a deliberate effort of the committee to contact-trace and test all persons and health workers that have had contacts with two persons that recently sneaked into the state and tested positive to the virus.
It added that all but one of the 23 new cases posted, on Monday, being the highest in a day since the outbreak began pointing out that they were already in isolations.
The fresh cases had long been identified as “persons of interest” on account of their close contacts with a pregnant woman who sneaked in from Zamfara and later tested positive.
“The woman was briefly treated at the Ilorin General Hospital and later at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital where she underwent an operation and later tested positive, leading to contact tracing and testing of over 180 people.
“Various precautionary measures have since been taken at two hospitals, including disinfection of relevant wards, relocation of other patients to some other wards, testing of all the contacts, and a renewed emphasis on the need for healthcare workers to treat every patient as a potential COVID-19 case,”
Ajakaye, who is also the spokesman of the State Technical Committee on COVID-19 said, “For the records, the rise in the cases was a result of government’s proactiveness in rounding up all contacts and testing all of them.
“Insinuations about the lack of PPEs or shortage of same are unfounded and reckless” adding that the 23 cases included a contact of a deceased whose corpse was brought into Kwara State from the neighbouring Ekiti State.
“So far, 75 percent of our cases were imported. There is no record of community spread yet in Kwara. While we commend the security agencies for what they are doing, we urge them to do much more to secure our borders and prevent influx of people into the state.
“The new 23 cases, as many before now, were a backlash from porous borders. As of May 30, our percentage of recoveries/discharges is 43 per cent, far above the national average of 29 per cent.
“For every 100 test done in Kwara, seven is positive, whereas the national average is 16 for every 100 tests done.”
