Five new cases of the Coronavirus pandemic have been confirmed in Abia State, bringing the total number of the cases in the State to six, one being the yet to recover index cases earlier recorded in the State

In a press briefing, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu revealled that three of the new cases are recent returnees from Lagos who sneaked into the State despite the restriction on inter-state movement, and the total lockdown on Lagos State

Gov Ikpeazu reiterated the need for vigilance and integrity on the part of persons and agencies executing the lockdown restrictions: "The circumstances of these cases have brought to the fore the need for us to re-emphasize total closure of our inter-state borders and commitment by every person, especially those that were assigned the duty of manning the borders.

" The war against COVID-19 is a war that has tasked everybody to show leadership at all levels. This is not the business of government alone. It concerns every one of us.

"Every Abian and, indeed, every Nigerian should show leadership at the family level, at the community level, at the church level and, indeed, at all levels. Because it is only when we take responsibility that we all can put our acts together and win this war".

He however averred that the government will leave no stone unturned to protect innocent and hapless citizens against greedy businessmen and transporters who are determined to flout government’s order for selfish reasons, and sounded a note of warning thus: "We must emphasize the determination of government to review the current ease on our lockdown initiative should the situation call for that.

"And if our transporters, especially members of Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and all those involved in the movement of people from one state to another, are found culpable especially with respect to these 3 recent cases, they will be sanctioned appropriately."

Speaking on measures being taken to check the spread of the pandemic, the governor said: "We have asked our medical rapid response team to move into the affected local governments and locations to start aggressive contact tracing. This will take us from Ofeme through Afugiri into Olokoro and we want residents in these communities, especially those that have come in contact with these cases, to come forward and make the exercise a little easier for us.

"We will reach each and every person that has come in contact with these patients and we will take samples and ensure they are tested for us to know exactly where we are in this task against coronavirus"

He further affirmed that the State have enough facilities and medical capacity to take care of the cases.

"You are aware that we just commissioned a 100-bed Isolation center with oxygen concentrators, ventilators, patient monitors etc at Amachara, Umuahia.

"The isolation center in Aba located at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) is also ready. We have capacity to take between 150 and 170 patients should the need arise.

Summing up Gov Ikpeazu tasked Abians to "take the lessons that are coming as a result of these 3 cases seriously and also to note that our decision to lock our borders is a very serious one"