Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, said on Monday the state government would henceforth isolate for the mandatory 14 days any residents of the state returning from either Lagos or Kano States.

Sule stated this while addressing traditional rulers and some religious leaders at a meeting in the Government House, Lafia.

He said the measure became necessary because of the alarming increase in the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and the need to protect the residents.

He expressed concern that the virus was spreading fast instead of subsiding, with Katsina and Kano States also under total lockdown

The governor said his major source of concern for the state was the increasing number of persons that tested positive for the virus in Abuja.

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He appealed to traditional rulers, led by the Chairman of the State Traditional Rulers Council and Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage (retd), to ensure that returnees from the two states were isolated.

He disclosed that already, 43 persons returning from Lagos were intercepted at Akwanga on their way to Shendam, Plateau State.

The governor disclosed that after he got in touch with his counterpart in Plateau, the returnees were escorted to Jos where they were isolated.

According to him, five of the travellers escaped into the bush after their vehicle stopped in the forest on their way to Jos.

He added that 13 others, who claimed to come from Nasarawa State, were on their way back to Lafia, where they would go into isolation.

“Even if they are our relations, as long as they are returning home from Lagos or Kano, we will go ahead and isolate them and test them,” Sule added. (NAN)

Vanguard