Rivers State government has announced a total lockdown of Bonny Local Government Area and Onne Community in Eleme Local Government Areas with effect from today to check the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
Consequently, all residents of Bonny Local Government and Onne community, except those on essential services and duly exempted must stay at home.
Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike announced this today in a statewide broadcast.
“Pursuant to the fundamental objective of stopping the spread of Coronavirus, we have reviewed the situation in Bonny Island and Onne communities and come to the conclusion that a total lockdown is necessary at this time to shutdown the continuing spread of the virus in these communities.
“By this measure, all shops, offices and business places must remain closed.
“All gatherings, including religious, burial and wedding activities are prohibited. All entry and exit into the two communities, except those on essential services and duly permitted, are also banned.
“Security agencies have been directed to enforce the lockdown by arresting and prosecuting anyone who dares to disobey these directives, “ he said.
The governor noted that with a total of 866 positive cases out of 2,572 tested samples, the state is gradually becoming the next epicenter of the virus in the South-south region.
He said that within this period, the state also recorded 30 deaths, including prominent persons while 356 persons recovered and were discharged from treatment centres.
According to the governor, only today (Saturday) the state recorded 127 new cases leaving the Isolation and Treatment Centres overwhelmed.
As the number of new cases and deaths continue to increase, the governor said there is no more denying that Coronavirus is both dangerous and deadly.
“We cannot also deny that the transmission of the virus in our state is currently on a steep upward trend. This being so, we must all brace up to the reality of having new infections and a couple of deaths in the coming weeks and months.
“When we recognised that effective early response was key to preventing the virus from progressing deep, we introduced drastic measures to protect our citizens.
“Unfortunately, some people deliberately twisted our intentions, maligned our timely measures and exploited the attendant temporary hardship on our people to further their selfish political drives.”