Covid-19: FG to ban inter-state, inter-town travels

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at a media briefing to give update on the measures being taken by the government to tackle the pandemic.

“We are considering tougher measures to stop the exportation of the disease to states that do not have it and minimise spread.

“The possible measures include, stopping inter-state/inter-town travels, except for essential services and closing all motor parks and inter-state rail stations.

“Already, all train movements nationwide have been stopped.

“We are also considering using fire fighting and other adaptable vehicles and personnel to fumigate cities and towns,” he said.

The minister stressed that time is running out and there is the need to take urgent and more aggressive measures at preventing the pandemic.

“We have a short window within which to stop this pandemic or face an explosion in terms of the cases. We cannot afford to be complacent,” he said.

Mohammed confirmed that the strategies so far taken at containing the pandemic were working, though there is still a long way to go.

“We have taken very bold measures in stopping international flights into the country.

“We hail the state governments that have taken equally bold measures in their states, which include the closure of markets and the prohibition of large congregations.

“However, we are determined to be more aggressive in enforcing the measures aimed at containing the spread of the virus.

“The measures are; Social distancing, Contact tracing, Testing, Isolation of suspected cases and ensuring that our messaging gets down to the grassroots,” he said.

Mohammed hailed the decision of five domestic airlines; Air Peace, Aero, Azman, Dana and Arik to suspend their flight operations.

He said the suspension was a boost for the efforts of the government to check the spread of the pandemic. (NAN)