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Plateau State has not recorded any case of the novel coronavirus even as state-wide fumigation with lockdown is expected to end today barring any extension.
While laboratory test cases continue to spike nationally with more than 19 states now affected and the figure crossing over 373, Plateau still has zero case with Governor Simon Bako Lalong leading the state in the fight against the pandemic. Coronavirus cases global figure is currently over 2 million, with over 128, 000 deaths and more than 492, 000 recovered. Africa has confirmed over 16, 300 infected cases, 880 deaths and 3,239 recovered.
To make fumigation and disinfection of public places more effective and also raise awareness level on the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic, authorities had set up a one-week lockdown across the 17 local government councils. The lockdown started 11pm Thursday, April 9 and is to end tonight at 11p.m. of Wednesday, April 15, 2020.
“No single glitch has been recorded. We have received the full cooperation of citizens and we have recorded 97% if not 100% lockdown across the entire state. Citizens have demonstrated the capacity to make sacrifice and support the government to ensure we keep the disease a bay,” said senior official of the Plateau State government in Jos.
Governor Lalong, had last week, in announcing the lockdown and fumigation exercise, reeled out action plans to fight the disease.
His words: “Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the government constituted a monitoring and enforcement task force under my Chairmanship. The Task Force has the following sub-committees: Awareness and advocacy; Medical Facility Management and Health Services; Enforcement; Border Management and Traffic; Secretariat and Logistics.
“A situation room was also created under the Secretariat and Logistics Committee to collate information and monitor activities of the various committees and the Local Governments.
“These five sub-committees were replicated in each of the 17 Local Government Areas with the Executive Chairmen heading the Central Committees”
Plateau State now house a test lab for COVID-19 as the state gears up to tame the disease and handle potential cases.
The Awareness and Advocacy sub-committees under the COVID-19 Monitoring and Enforcement Task Force has continue to raise awareness on taming the pandemic.
“As a government, we understand that staying at home to keep people safe is a difficult thing to do, especially when you are feeling fit and healthy.
“Everyone has an important role to play in how the coronavirus outbreak plays out. We all have the potential to make this pandemic so much worse.
One person can easily transmit it to other people without knowing it, and those people would then transmit it to even more people, creating a terrifying snowball effect.
The good news is, just as you can easily transmit the virus to other people, you can easily avoid transmitting it — if you’re willing to stay home,” added Governor Lalong while educating on the reason for the lockdown and why it had become imperative for citizens to stay at home.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS)
Coronavirus is a very infectious disease. To figure out how infectious a disease is, experts use the basic reproduction number, called the RO.
The basic reproduction number of infections can be thought of as the expected number of cases directly generated by one case in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection. – Wikipedia
The RO for the common flu is 1.3. If you get the flu, you will on average pass it on to 1.3 people. If those 1.3 people pass it on to another 1.3, if this occurs 10 times, then by the 10th time, 14 people will have the flu.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says most estimates of the coronavirus are around 2 or 2.5, some estimates are as high as 311. If one person passes it 3 and those 3 passes it to three and that happens in 10 layers. One person will be responsible for infecting as much 59,000 people. (Source: Professor Hugh Montgomery)
Every day you practice social distancing during the pandemic, you are doing someone else a favor. The government has heard about your suggestions and grievances on social media, we are also briefed about phone calls from the situation room. We are working round the clock to make the lockdown as easy as possible for residents in Plateau State.
