Ogun state to start face mask enforcement May 1; violators will spend 14 days in Isolation centers

As Nigeria continues to battle the Coronavirus pandemic, the Ogun State Government says it will begin enforcing the wearing of face masks in the state, as from May 1, 2020.

The state governor, Dapo Abiodun disclosed this during a press conference in the state on Friday April 24. He said offenders of the compulsory face mask order will be arrested and made to spend 14 days in an Isolation center.

“We are working against the spread of this COVID-19. As from May 1, it will be compulsory for everybody in the State to wear face masks. We deliberately delayed enforcing it so that our people can have enough time to get their own. After May 1, anyone who fails to wear a face mask will be viewed as deliberately planning to infect others and will be arrested and put in our isolation centres.

Some of our confirmed cases are immigrants coming to our State through the land borders. The peculiarity of Ogun State put us at a vulnerable position. That means that just as we have advantages, we also have some disadvantages.” he said

He added that the state has made testing booths available in border towns and highly populated areas for people, stating that the Intensive Care Unit, ICU at the 250-bed hospital at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, was ready for use, while the Molecular Laboratory for testing COVID-19 patients has been inspected by officials of the NIgeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and the World Health Organisation, WHO.

Ogun state currently has 35 confirmed cases of COVID19.