Bauchi state governor Bala Mohammed, on Sunday, announced total lockdown in three local government areas to curtail the community transmission of the new coronavirus disease in the state.
Prompt News reports that the state government through the deputy governor had confirmed multiple deaths in Azare, but said it was normal and seasonal.
“I went to the cemetery to investigate the report of multiple deaths in Azare but I confirmed that it was normal and seasonal deaths,” Baba Tela had said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three local government areas to be locked down included, Katagum, Giade, and Zaki.
Governor Mohammed told a news conference in Bauchi that the decision was as a result of the high rate of community transmission of the COVID-19 in the LGAs.
He said that the lockdown, that will last for 10 days, would enable the state government to embark on contact tracing and establish a very robust administration of managing the situation.
“Just yesterday, some tests were returned for some areas in Bauchi State, especially Azare, the headquarters of Katagum Local Government Area, Giade and some other parts of the state.
“We discovered that we have 44 new cases, 27 of them from Azare and about seven from Giade.
“We discovered that this is a result of community transmission.
“Those who brought the disease have started spreading it.
“We are, therefore, establishing and enforcing a total lockdown on Azare town (Katagum Local Government), Giade Local Government, and Zaki Local Government.
“This is because most of the people there are very close to Kano and Hadejia in Jigawa.
“So, we are locking down these three LGAs for 10 days to enable us to trace, quarantine the people found to have the virus, and establish a very robust administration of managing the situation,’’ Mohammad said.
The governor, who announced that the total lockdown would take effect from Tuesday, May 12, explained that during the period, the areas would be decontaminated with chemical spraying.
He also said that the state would initiate massive COVID-19 testing of residents to determine those who were infected.
