COVID-19: ‘57,000 new cases loom in Kaduna’

Kaduna State Government has expressed fear that violation of the lockdown order in the State may jack up its cases of COVID-19 to as high as 57,000.

The fear was expressed by the state’s Task Force on COVID-19, saying that, the risk assessment of the pandemic is troubling and could be up to 57,000 new cases if there is no effective enforcement and implementation of the lockdown order.

The Task Force was reacting to the sixth confirmed COVID-19 case involving a male patient who returned from Lagos state to Kaduna through a commercial vehicle after he tested positive for the deadly disease.

It, however, said that, it has commenced massive enforcement of the lockdown, especially to stop interstate travels till further notice as part of measures to avoid community transmission of the disease.

Leader of the Task Force and Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, noted in an interview that it is important for people to observe the lockdown for as long as it is in effect for their own safety.

According to him, “with the pandemic gradually spreading to neighbouring states coupled with the sixth imported case from far away Lagos into Kaduna, we are not happy that the safe corridor provided for travelers has been serially abused since the lockdown was imposed, as people from elsewhere have been coming into Kaduna in droves in violation of the quarantine order.

“Now, security agencies have been issued an executive order to turn back any unauthorised vehicles into the state.

“Vehicles without approvals have been intercepted along Kachia road and Sabon Tasha area, with some commercial drivers abandoning their buses and fleeing in a bid to escape arrest,” he said.