Coronavirus Updates: Information Commissioner Says Abia Is Now “Epicenter Of This Crisis”

Abia State suffered another quick and brutal rise in the number of coronavirus cases on Monday as officials raced to make more isolation and hospital beds available with the state’s commissioner of information saying Abia could become the next epicentre of the global pandemic.

“The churches are part of the problem. It looks like Aba is a red location for COVID-19 infection and all hands should be on deck now to stop the spread there,” said Chief Okeiyi Kalu, Abia Information Commissioner, while answering questions during a phone-in programme on COVID-19 update in the state.

Abia, which recorded 15 new cases on Sunday moved to the 16th position, with 166 confirmed infections, on the log of states with highest coronavirus cases in Nigeria.

The commissioner noted that the report coming from Aba Central Mosque, on Hospital road, was very dangerous and worrisome for everyone in the COVID-19 era.

“It looks like all the sensitisation, all the efforts made by the media, have not worked because Aba people continued to violate the regulations with regard to face masks wearing, and social distancing.

He blamed churches and mosques for refusing to adhere to simple directives or telling adherents what was right to do.

He said such an attitude threw the city into grave danger.