Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has directed all civil and public servants in the employment of the state, local governments and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to stay off work for the next two weeks starting from Friday, March 27 2020.
This was contained in a press statement signed by the Governor on Wednesday in view of the current coronavirus outbreak.
The governor, however, noted that only persons on essential services are allowed to remain on duty for now.
According to the statement, a team of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was already in the state to support activities aimed at containing the virus by the government.
The Governor stated that the government had put in place all precautionary measures needed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the good people of Oyo State.
The governor added that so far, the index case of coronavirus in the state is responding to treatment, noting that those who have had contact with the index case were already in self-isolation.
The governor said: “Our Emergency Operation Centre is already fully operational. It will interest the public to know that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has already sent a team of experts that is working in collaboration with our technical team on COVID-19″.
The area of collaboration covers training as well as the immediate setting up of a Diagnostic Centre that will make testing less stressful while at the same time eliminating the time between sample collection and results”, he stated.
Governor Makinde thanked the management of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, the NCDC and other good spirited Nigerians who have shown support for the state in combating the virus.
He, however, admonished residents to stop making frivolous calls to the Emergency Operating Centre, EOC, adding that people should only call the centre when they have genuine and serious cases.
