COVID-19: Edo witnesses steady rise in recoveries, orders civil servants to resume full work

Announcing these at a press conference at the Government House, Benin City, the deputy governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, directed that following the successes recorded, “all civil servants are now to resume the regular working hours but with strict observance and compliance to all COVID-19 protocols including observing social distancing, compulsory use of facemasks and regular hand washing, amongst others.”

“We are happy to announce that we have recorded remarkable success in the management of the pandemic as our indicators have improved,” Shaibu added, pointing out that the case positivity rate had drastically dropped from 23.1 per cent to one per cent.

Following that, the deputy governor disclosed that the state government had decided to review the measures put in place to curtain the pandemic by reviewing the span of the curfew imposed from 10 pm to 12 midnight and 5 am daily.

Shaibu thanked the people of the state for their cooperation and support which aided the government’s strategy of breaking the chain of transmission, especially during the second wave.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the state’s Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Julie Erhabor, has disclosed that the 16,328 persons vaccinated included 4,527 strategic leaders, 4,337 health workers and 7,464 other frontline workers across various communities in the state.

She urged eligible members of the public to avail themselves the opportunity and get inoculated against the deadly virus, adding that the state planned to vaccinate about 47, 994 persons in the first phase of the vaccination exercise.

Noting that the government remained committed to containing the pandemic and ensuring the safety of citizens, Erhabor said the state currently has 103 teams for the rollout of the vaccine, including 62 fixed centres and 41 temporary fixed posts.

In a related development, the state COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr Andrew Obi, noted that measures deployed by the government to flatten the curve of the second wave of the pandemic had continued to yield gains as recorded a steady decline in case positivity and fatality rates.

The Incident Manager disclosed that the state recorded one more case and 10 recoveries from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, with no death in the last 13 days, adding that 211 samples were collected at various sample collection points in the state within the 24-hour period.

He added that the new case was reported from the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) laboratory, while the 10 recoveries were reported from the home care units of the Stella Obasanjo Hospital and ISTH isolation facilities.

Noting that surveillance and case management, active cases as well as the decontamination of homes and offices of infected persons were ongoing, Obi disclosed that the community transmission of the virus in the state still stood at 92.2 per cent.