AS cases of COVID-19 hit 51,905 in the country, the Commissioner for Health in Anambra State, Dr. Vincent Okpala, has warned the police not to exthort money from violators of set health protocols.
Dr Okpala who was responding to a caller’s allegation during a radio phone-in programme that some policemen were extorting N5,000 from face mask violators, stated that such actions should be reported to government.
He urged the people to assist government by reporting with evidence, those criminal elements sabotaging its genuine efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.
While emphasising that the pandemic was still a global issue, which is yet to be defeated, Dr. Okpala urged the public to keep observing COVID-19 preventive measures and to join in the fight against the pandemic.
He noted that the the government of Anambra State had before the index case, carried out massive sensitisation, awareness campaigns, trained stakeholders and relevant bodies on COVID-19 safety measures.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had on Saturday through its verified Twitter handle, confirmed 601 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections to 51,905 in the country.
The health agency said Lagos recorded a big leap in the number of reported infections compared with the past few weeks with 404 confirmed new cases.
The states and the number of infections confirmed on Saturday were FCT 37; Oyo 19, Ondo 14, Abia 13, Enugu 13, Kaduna 13, Edo 12, Kano 12, Kwara 11, Ebonyi 10, Nasarawa 7, Ogun 6, Osun 5, Delta 5, Niger 5, Plateau 4, Bayelsa 4, Katsina 3, Ekiti 2 and Imo 2.
NCDC stated that Lagos State reported the recovery of 684 COVID-19 patients managed in the community in line with the new case management guidelines.
The agency said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), activated at Level 3, had continued to coordinate national response activities across the country.
BY SUNNY A. DAVID
