The Edo State Government has placed a ban on street trading, as part of new measures to enforce social distancing and check the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state.
Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, 16th April, the Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu, said the measure is being taken to restrict movement and ensure compliance to social distancing and other directives imposed by the state government to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Noting that the state government is working on more stringent measures to ensure total compliance to different directives aimed at checking the spread of COVID-19.
“As part of these measures, we hereby announce a ban on street trading, as an additional measure to restrict contacts among people and enforce social distancing.”
“This is in the light of the fact that markets have been moved to public and primary school premises to facilitate trading in essential commodities such as food and medicines, among others.”
Comrade Philip Shaibu noted that “the government has set up screening centres across Oredo Local Government Area (starting with six Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) and four private hospitals) to actualise our plans to screen 500,000 persons with the ultimate goal of testing 5000 persons. These would be scaled to other local government areas across the state.”
Meanwhile, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has disclosed that the state plans to screen over 500,000 citizens across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state within the next few weeks.
The screening of the citizens is coning on the heels of the securing of two additional testing facilities at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) and the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, Benin City by the government as part of increased efforts to detect and manage cases of corona virus (COVID-19) in the state.
Gov. Obaseki said his government was working assiduously to contain the scourge, urged residents to adhere to directives on good hygiene and safety, including regular washing of the hands, use of sanitizers and observing social distancing.
“We want to screen up to 500,000 citizens in Edo over the next few weeks, and I am pleased to inform you that we now have two additional testing facilities in Benin City, where we plan to test up to 5,000 citizens. We will review our current policies when we obtain sufficient data and evidence from the screening and testing.”
“For emphasis, I want to urge you to continue to observe the hygiene and safety precautions, particularly the regular hand washing under running water, the use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers, and the observation of social distancing practices. Most importantly, please stay at home as much as possible and protect the people around you.”
