By Ruth Oginyi
Ebonyi State Government has taken another step to protect citizens of the state from the pandemic COVID-19 by ordering retired health workers both at the local government and state level to return to work and help medical team to protect the state.
Governor David Umahi, who gave the order, also directed a driver of one of the State Executive Council members who recently returned from China to self-isolate himself in Lagos and not to return to the State.
While civil servants from level 1 to 10 should stay off duties for about three weeks.
The Governor made this known on Tuesday while briefing journalists on the adopted measures by the State Government to fight coronavirus and Lassa Fever in the State .
Umahi who described the pandemic as a trying period urged Ebonyi people to be extra careful and stay safe by adopting all the preventive measures.
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The governor said, “From 25th of March 2020 to 14th of April, all civil servant from grade level 01-10 must stay off work but must be vigilant as they could be called to perform essential services any moment.
“Those on health and other essential services are hereby excluded. All retirees on health are hereby recalled at state and local government areas to help our medical team in our fight to protect our people.
“It is quite a very trying period that we need everybody to stay safe and to be very careful. If we as Ebonyians decide to stay totally safe, we will be able to give information.”
“A driver of one of our Exco members travelled to China last week and then arrived Lagos last night and boarded a car to come here. Everybody spoke to him not to come until my ADC reported to me and I said call him and he came to me. I told him, choose between life and death. It is better to sacrifice one person than to endanger everybody because going to China in the wake of very dangerous outbreak is like he has gone to purchase deaths.
“So, we would have made him to die alone. So, he said he didn’t have money. I told him, get a hotel and report yourself to a centre for control of disease in Lagos. And so, we are sending money to him to get himself accommodation and report himself there so that they can observe him and test him where necessary but he shouldn’t come at all and I am not joking about it. If he comes, I will lock him in his house.
“This coronavirus is a very dangerous disease and you don’t even know when somebody contract it. Don’t say it doesn’t matter, it matters a lot”, he said.
