COVID-19: Oyo cancels curfew, converts isolation centres to PHCs
The Oyo State government yesterday announced the cancellation of the 10 p.m. curfew imposed on the state in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state COVID-19 Task Force, headed by Governor Seyi Makinde, in a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Taiwo Adisa, which contained details of the report of the Task Force meeting held on August 31, 2020, and presided over by the governor indicated that the curfew has been abolished after a series of reviews.
The Task Force, however, specifically warned operators of night clubs to desist from accommodating persons in closed areas within their premises, adding that research has confirmed that the virus spreads faster when people cluster in closed venues.
The statement further indicated that the Task Force issued another warning to residents of the state to continue to follow the OWN YOUR ACTION initiative of the state’s COVID-19 Task Force, as according to the Task Force, the state “is not completely out of the woods with regards to COVID-19.”
It explained that the decision by the Governor Makinde-led Task Force to abolish the curfew was premised on the need to reduce the burden on business owners in the state, whom, it said, has been affected by the curfew, especially since the COVID-19 situation has begun to improve in the state.
According to the Task Force, though it appeared that COVID-19 cases are coming down in the state, “the confidence interval could not be determined yet.”
The statement added that the governor has also approved the conversion of the Aawe Isolation Centre to a Level 3 Primary Health Care Centre (PHC), directing that the facility should be decontaminated and handed over to the Hospital Management Board.
Similarly, the statement confirmed that the Task Force has approved that except for the Infectious Disease Centre, Olodo, Ibadan, other isolation centres in the state could be converted to Level 3 PHC.
It, however, stated that whenever a spike in COVID-19 cases is noticed in the location where any of the facilities is situated, such a facility would be re-converted as an isolation centre or a part of it will be so utilised as an isolation centre.