Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has ordered the closure of all entry points into the state to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Rivers State.
The governor stated that the state narrowly escaped a COVID-19 infection but for the vigilance and proactive action of security personnel in the state that managed to stop the COVID-19 infected person from boarding a plane from Abuja to Port Harcourt.
According to the governor’s official Twitter handle, “It is with gratitude to God that I announce to you that our State would have been infected with coronavirus yesterday, but for the vigilance of security agents who, acting on a tip-off prevented an infected person from boarding a flight from Abuja to Port Harcourt”
ALSO READ: We have commenced contact tracing for confirmed case of COVID-19 in Osun, says Oyetola
He stated that the infected person had beaten all security measures that were put in place at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja and had almost been able to sneak into Port Harcourt before she was stopped by security agents.
The governor, therefore, announced that based on this, the State Security Council met and thereby reviewed measures that were already in place and urgent steps to adopt stringent measures were decided on to protect people of the state against the COVID-19 virus.
Therefore with effect from 6 p.m on Thursday, March 26, 2020, the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa will not be open to air traffic, the land and sea borders will also be closed to traffic and movements in and out of the state have been banned as no vehicles will be allowed in or out of the state.
The governor stated that considering the risk the COVID-19 poses to the state and the harm it has caused to other countries, it is important that drastic measures as these are taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19.
While asking for the full support of people of the state in the fight against the spread of the COVID-19, the governor also stated that security agencies have been empowered to ensure strict compliance and defaulters will be severely dealt with as surveillance ports will be set up at land and sea borders from Tuesday, March, 24th 2020.
Also encouraging the people, he stated that: “I am confident that God being on our side, the temporary hardship we are facing today will come to an end very soon.”
On a final note, the governor also banned all forms of open worship, public Burials and weddings and also stated that public parks, night clubs and cinemas will be directed to close.
and then