COVID-19: In Cross River, You Need A Face Mask To Leave Your House

By Jonathan Ugbal

The Cross River State government has said residents will from Friday, April 3, 2020 need a face mask to leave their homes.

This, according to a statement signed by the spokesman of Governor Ben Ayade, Mr. Christian Ita is in light of the “proliferation of new cases of coronavirus in neighboring states.”

The Nigerian Center for Disease Control had on Wednesday evening announced 23 new cases of the SARS-CoV2 of which neighboring Akwa Ibom state recorded five cases. Benue state had earlier recorded 1 case.

As at 08:00 pm 1st April, there are

174 confirmed cases
9 discharged
2 deaths

For a breakdown of cases by states- https://t.co/zQrpNeOfet

Currently;
Lagos- 91
FCT- 35
Osun- 14
Oyo- 8
Ogun- 4
Edo- 4
Kaduna- 4
Bauchi- 3
Enugu- 2
Ekiti- 2
Rivers-1
Benue- 1
Akwa Ibom- 5

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) April 1, 2020

The country now has over 170 confirmed cases with 9 discharged so far while two deaths have been recorded.

And, Mr. Ayade announced the following restrictions;

1. No citizen or resident of the state will be allowed to leave home without a face mask from Friday 3rd, April 2020.

2. Failure to adhere to this directive will lead to the arrest and quarantine of the offenders for 14 days.

3. The Cross River State garment factory has been mandated to produce face masks to be distributed free to citizens and residents alike to meet with the demand.

4. Those who for one reason or the other are unable to get masks from government before the new restrictions kick in, are advised to purchase theirs from shops selling the item.

5. All public gatherings remain banned, markets should remain closed except where foodstuff is sold.

6. All exit and entry points into the state are now completely shut. No human or vehicular movement will be allowed into the state under any disguise.

The state had earlier shut down her borders and banned gatherings of more than five with only essential duty workers allowed to move.

As at press time, CrossRiverWatch gathered that the health commissioner had embarked on a journey to some border points tp ensure the ban on movement into the state was being effected.