18th December, 2020
Gombe State Committee on COVID-19 has warned residents to comply with COVID-19 protocols following a resurgence of the virus in communities across the state.
The Chairman of the committee, who is also the Deputy Governor of the state, Mannassah Jatau raised the alarm while briefing journalists in Gombe on Friday.
Jatau said the severity of the second wave of the pandemic as observed across the world was a lesson for residents to learn and ensure strict adherence to laid down protocols.
According to him, not complying with the protocols from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) could lead to serious consequences for the state and members of the public.
He stated that many persons had ignored the prescribed precautionary measures which, he said, was a threat that must be addressed, hence the appeal by the committee to residents to “go back to all the measures.”
The chairman appealed to residents to revert to regular hand washing, use of sanitisers, face masks and observing physical distancing.
He warned that people in the state were dying from COVID-19 related complications and “ whether we say it or not, COVID-19 is not a joke and we must be serious about it to keep safe.”
Jatau expressed concern over Saturday’s Local Government Area polls, Christmas and New Year celebrations, adding “we must comply in the midst of all these gatherings,” he said.
Also speaking, the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Ahmed Gana said that resurgence of cases in Gombe might lead to a crisis if residents continued to ignore the precautionary measures.
Gana stated that the virus had recycled and “it’s everywhere in the community now.”
“A classical example is the active case search that we embarked on in one of our communities, out of 23 active cases suspected, 22 came back positive.
“Since then, we have seen a very rapid rise in the number from single digit to double digits and if we don’t take measures now, we may run into trouble,” he warned.
The commissioner said the harmattan weather was helping the spread of the disease and now the number of death “is on the increase.”
“We have had a lot of deaths recently and in the last two to three days, big figures have died in Gombe and many of them from COVID-19,” he said.
He appealed to the media, traditional and religious leaders to help disseminate the message and ensure that everyone took responsibility in the fight against COVID-19.