The Akwa Ibom State government has lifted the ban on social gatherings such as weddings and burials which was imposed in March following the outbreak of Coronavirus, but schools remain shut.
According to an announcement by Governor Udom Emmanuel, residents of the state who wish to organise funeral ceremonies and weddings in the state, were however asked to follow strict guidelines.
“If you are doing funeral in an open space like a field in a primary school you must not have more than 50 people. We are not forcing you to do the burial, but if you must do it, you must do it within our guidelines. Not more than 50 people and you must adhere to all our guidelines which was drafted by the Christian Association of Nigeria.
“They (people attending the burial) must all wear facemask, have hand sanitisers, (and adhere to) everything that has been outlined by CAN.
“If you are doing the burial inside the church, people inside should not be more than 30.”
Emmanuel further disclosed that monitoring teams would be dispatched to ensure strict compliance with the guidelines. He also urged Pastors to help in the implementation of the guidelines to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
He said; “Please we don’t want anybody to expose himself or his own family. If you must go out, wear a facemask. If you don’t feel like wearing mask, please stay at home. A lot of people are asymptomatic to this and they keep infecting other people without knowing. And we don’t want this to continue.”
On managing Coronavirus, the Governor added;
“Some of the drugs, we are running out of stock. And how to replenish the stock we don’t know because a whole lot of them are not manufactured here in Nigeria.
“I don’t want us to get to a point where we are overwhelmed.
“As I am talking, I am yet to receive one naira from the federal government to support our fight against COVID-19.”
