The PUNCH reports that the Ebonyi State Executive Committee on coronavirus had in the past five days intensified action geared towards enforcing its border closure order, which among things, bans inter-state movement in and out of the state, at its various borders.
Umahi also ordered that the 37 persons be subjected to daily medical tests for 14 days.
Umahi said, “The state government on Saturday (March 28, 2020) ordered that all the borders in the state be immediately shut down to prevent the coronavirus from spreading into the state.
“It ordered that no mass transit should be allowed carrying people into the state from the borders or out of the state.
“But 37 persons in the state were said to have entered the bushes and crossed to one of the borders where they entered a truck and escaped into Ebonyi State. The 37 persons were covered with tapoline in the truck.
“I will quarantine whoever that escaped. We have 37 people that escaped through the bush. One trailer loaded them from the bush and we have seven persons from Abia, Cross River, Delta, Onitsha, and Rivers.
“So, we are taking the 37 of them and we have prepared a holding down centre in the stadium and we are going to feed them three times a day. The medical team is going to examine them and they are going to stay here for 14 days.
“Every day, we will be testing them. So, we feed them three times a day. There is a provision for them to bath. Anybody who wants to escape means that he/she has coronavirus and it is shoot at site, that’s my directive to the service chiefs. Nobody will escape.”
PUNCH
