The Ondo State Government did a critical appraisal of the rising cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria, vis-a-vis the flagrant disobedience of its citizens to safety guidelines to control the spread of the virus, and declared it might be forced to lock down the state again.
Chairman of the state’s Special Task Force on COVID-19 Enforcement and Compliance, Mr. Doyin Odebowale, in an interview in Akure, on Friday.
Odebowale made the observation after visiting to some of the mosques in the state capital during Friday’s Ju’maat service, saying many worshippers disregarded the protocol on social distancing.
He said his team was planning to meet religious leaders to assess the level of compliance to the COVID-19 guidelines and how they can be better implemented.
“We have been engaging the leadership and we hope there will be another engagement,” he said.
“We expect them to improve. There was not much social distancing and we are not satisfied.
“We are getting more cases and we are not happy. We don’t want a situation where government will lock down the state again. If it continues, the government will lock down the state.”
As at the time of this report, Ondo State has recorded four deaths and discharged 21 persons from its various isolation centres.