Akwa Ibom govt ‘jolted’ by spike in COVID-19

The Akwa Ibom State government on Sunday held an emergency meeting to discuss the surge in COVID-19 infection in the state.

The state recorded 36 new cases on Sunday, the highest of late.

The Commissioner for Information in the state, Ini Ememobong, said the 36 cases were from 149 tests carried out by the state government.

The emergency meeting presided by the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Emmanuel Ekuwem, resolved that “monitoring teams will be reactivated for strict enforcement of compliance” and “COVID-19 protocol enforcement by security agencies to be reactivated immediately”.

Mr Ekuwem heads the COVID-19 Management Committee in the state.

The government also resolved that contact tracing would be intensified across the state.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state is 512 as of January 11, though a small percentage of the overall 10,0087 cases in Nigeria.

Lagos State, which remains the epicentre of the infection, has 36,101 cases, followed by 13,448.

Kaduna State is the third-highest, with 5,801 cases.

Plateau, Oyo, and Rivers states have 5,774, 4,323, and 3,913 cases respectively.

Kogi State, with only five infections so far, has the lowest number of COVID-19C cases in Nigeria.

Akwa Ibom State has recorded nine deaths from COVID-19, including the passing of a former military governor of the state, Idongesit Nkanga.

The state government recently banned large gatherings to curb the surge in infection.