By Daniel Dauda, Jos



As Covid-19 cases in Plateau State rise to 17, with one discharged, Governor Simon Bako Lalong is asking citizens of the State not to panic, but to continue to strictly adhere to regulations put in place to contain the disease and curtail community spread.

Governor Lalong while responding to the rise in the number of cases said the development calls for concerted efforts to achieve effective contact-tracing and stop community spread which is now the major challenge.

According to the statement signed by Governor Lalong's Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr. Simon Makut Macham said, “My message to the people of Plateau State is to commend them for complying with the regulations we put in place. If we had not taken the steps we adopted, the situation will have been more worrisome. This is the time to concentrate on contact tracing to be able to ascertain the magnitude of the pandemic on our people. The best thing is to check and address it instead of sitting and arguing. Already, the index case has been treated ad discharged while the others are doing well.”

He urged citizens of the state to continue to comply with the guidelines for restriction of movement, use of face marks, adhering to social distancing and observing hygiene and sanitation requirements.

“We are now going into aggressive enforcement of the regulations we rolled out as that is the best way for us to contain the rising cases. From all the cases we have, there is none that originated within the State. All of them are from people who sneaked into the State from our borders despite the closure. We will not allow this to continue especially at this time that we are doing contact tracing and working hard to curb community spread,” he said.

Governor Lalong also described as unfortunate the situation where some people violate laid down regulations aimed at tackling the virus and try to persuade others to disregard Government directives on the claim that covid-19 is not real.

“It is sad and unfair for people to take this position and try to instigate others to disregard our regulations. Covid-19 is real and for me, I lost two friends recently, one in Lagos and the other in Bauchi. They were both classmates and lawyers. Let us not put people at risk by not only being careless, but discouraging them from doing the right thing. I appeal to our people to take serious precaution and stay at home while observing all the regulations”, the Governor said.

Lalong also reminded the citizens of the State that the total lockdown in the State earlier relaxed resumes midnight of Sunday 10th May 2020, and violators will be arrested and prosecuted.

He also reiterated that all exempted motorists coming into the State will not be allowed in after 6pm until the next day 7am when they will be thoroughly screened and certified before entry.