Fred Itua, Abuja
As a follow up to its earlier guidelines on how to curtail the spread of the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Abuja, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Muhammad Bello has declared a partial curfew on Abuja.
According to the minister, who briefed reporters late Thursday evening, shops in the Territory will not operate between 6 am-9 pm daily.
He has also banned the operation of all public eateries and restaurants. Instead, he has asked operators to opt for take away packs for customers.
While urging residents to strictly observe all the protocols put in place by the FCT Administration, he said security agents and other enforcement officers will swing into action.
The minister made the following statement:
“The FCTA held a Stakeholder meeting of officials and relevant security agencies in the battle against COVID 19, today (yesterday) held a meeting to review the enforcement of measures for the containment of the disease in the Territory.
“It is essential to state that so far, the FCT has recorded 9 confirmed cases and one fatality. Following the meeting, additional decisions were taken to further contain the spread of the COVID 19 in the Territory.
“While the FCTA wishes to commend all residents who have complied with our earlier released directives on the management of the disease, compliance, however, has not been satisfactory.
“We, therefore, call on residents to, in their own interest, health and safety, obey all public health and other instructions regarding the containment of COVID 19.
“After today’s meeting, the following decisions were taken. All business activities in the FCT must be between the hours of 6 am and 9 pm.
“In our bid to further enforce social distancing, all eateries are to withdraw all seating arrangements in their premises and are to make use of takeaways packs instead. This will discourage the convergence of customers at one particular spot. We encourage them to embrace home delivery as a service alternative.
“In order to enforce public compliance to all directives issued on the containment of COVID 19 in the FCT, 5 monitoring Teams have been established. These Teams are mandated to enforce compliance in the following areas (i) Parks, Clubs, and Markets (ii) Motor Parks, Buses and Taxis (iii) Places of Worship (iv) Schools (V) Area Councils.
“In order to ensure the effective coordination of all activities on the containment of COVID 19, the FCTA has also established the COVID 19 Situation Room to be domiciled at the FCT Call Center whose telephone numbers are 08099936312, 08099936313, 08099936314 and 07080631500.
“These numbers will furnish the monitoring Teams with the necessary information to address real-time issues as they arise. In addition, members of the public are advised to also use the National Emergency Toll-free number 112. We enjoin all residents to remain calm and abide by all laid down directives. Together, we can defeat COVID-19.”
