Why Oyo Adopts Partial Lockdown to Curtail Covid-19 – Health Commissioner

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Amidst several concerns raised in some quarters, allegedly accusing the Oyo State government of poor response to the raging challenge of Covid-19, the state government has dispelled the rumour, saying the state is ready and well equipped to curtail the spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the state with its state- of- the-art- facility, along its experienced team led by the Executive Governor of the state, Engr. Seyi Makinde.

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent at the state government house, Ibadan, Oyo State recently, the Commissioner for Health, Oyo State, Dr Bashir Bello, explained reasons for adopting partial lockdown, saying it denotes the uniqueness of the state, as more health professionals were being trained to adequately prepare them for handling cases of the virus coupled with the sophisticated Covid-19 Task Force team chaired by Gov. Seyi Makinde himself.

He revealed that indigenes of the state have thrown their weights behind Gov. Seyi Makinde, on the measures put in place to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the state, adding that the state’s adoption of partial lockdown is best as total lockdown of the state in the present circumstance would have put citizens in panic mode and heightened social tension, as it is happening in other states.

Bello further stated that the proactive and systematic measures put in place so far by the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde in containing the disease are already yielding positive results, as the number of new positive cases have only increased by two in the last one week, saying this is at variance with greater number of cases in other states that enforced total lockdown.

“Contrary to the insinuation elsewhere that we are not doing enough, I am bold to say that our level of preparedness is beyond anybody’s imagination, so it is not until we start screaming ‘total lockdown’ up and down that we are working as Oyo State is a unique state and we don’t copy anybody but rather act based on scientific evidence, as we are known for here. So, whatever we are doing, it is not only evidence based, not only scientifically based, but the two combined gives us the logic, which is a major factor involved.

Continuing, Bello said:  “In Oyo State today, we still do and we still follow up our slogan which says ‘Ajise bi Oyo lari, Oyo kise bi enikan’, so we cannot be copying whatever is the idea from anywhere else but have to develop our own logical, reasonable evidence based template which is peculiar to us in the state. I want to assure the good people of this state that the Task Force team headed by Gov. Seyi Makinde himself is working day and night to curtail the spread in the state,” he assured

According to him, the 100-bed Isolation Centre for Coronavirus patients in Ibadan, which will be powered 24 hours daily is ready and personnel have been posted there to handle all cases, even, the worst of all cases.

“This centre has a very intensive care unit for very hopeless cases, you know when you have a hopeless case that is between life and death. So, if the patient improves, we move such to a high dependency unit and then if further improvement to the ordinary ward, from where such may be taking an exit from the facility. It has such a flow that you will not be going out from the way you came in, so if we could do all these without having serious cases, it shows that the state is well prepared for any eventuality.” He said.

The commissioner however enjoined the state's residents to comply strictly with Governor Seyi Makinde's directives on partial lockdown, so as to curtail, contain and prevent the further spread of the disease. He added that it became imperative and necessary for the people of Oyo State to comply strictly with state government's directives on partial lockdown aimed at containing and curtailing the further spread of coronavirus pandemic in Oyo State and Nigeria at large.