From Angela Mbaocha
The Ebonyi State Government has placed a ban on large gatherings in the state, following the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor David Umahi who disclosed this in Abakaliki, the state capital, also directed that all religious gatherings in the state must not exceed two hours.
He further directed the State Deputy Governor, Kelechi Igwe, and the State COVID-19 team to ensure massive sensitization and public enlightenment campaign to get the people to embrace the COVID-19 protocols.
This, according to him, would help the state not to record any case in the second wave of the pandemic.
“We must go back to observe all the protocols of COVID-19 enunciated by the Presidential Taskforce. I have directed that Church Services should not last more than 2 hours. I have also directed that we should step up our testing before the end of January”.
“We must have to accomplish the target of the Presidential Taskforce by testing at least 450 persons per Local Government. I have suspended large gathering of people in Ebonyi State. We have returned to the wearing of facemasks in all public places and in our homes.”
“During this Christmas, I am appealing that we curtail our movements. The initial night of praise will no longer hold in the state, the usual end of year party will not hold rather we are not aggregated so that we have smaller gathering that we can control”, he noted.
Recall that the National Coordinator of the Presidential Taskforce on Covid- 19, Dr Sani Aliyu, recently conveyed to the governor his nomination as the Covid-19 Presidential Taskforce National Champion.
He noted that the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Pillar is saddled with the responsibility of public sensitization on multi-media platforms and community mobilization against COVID-19 which is aimed at principally promoting behaviour change among the people through information sharing and engagement that ensure decision making for compliance towards prevention and containment of COVID-19.
