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There is palpable tension in Oyo town as Governor Seyi Makinde announced that the ancient town now has a confirmed case of coronavirus pandemic.
Makinde made this known last night when he announced Oyo’s 5 new coronavirus cases, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the state to 64.
In a post on Twitter, Makinde had tweeted “The COVID-19 confirmation tests for five suspected cases came back POSITIVE. The cases are from the following Local Government Areas: Ibadan North (2), a foreigner in Surulere, Ibadan North East (1) & Ibadan South West (1).
“So, the total number of confirmed cases in Oyo State is sixty-four,” the governor said.
Makinde, however, accompanied the post with a map representation of the local government areas with confirmed coronavirus cases. The 64 coronvirus cases were recorded in 15 local governments.
“Out of the 15 local governments, Ibadan North has the highest number of cases with 26; followed by Egbeda with eight cases; Ibadan South West is third with seven cases while Oriire has five.
“Ibadan South East and Oluyole have three cases each; Akinyele, Ido, Surulere have two cases each while Ibadan North West, Ibadan North East, Lagelu, Olorunsogo, Ona Ara and Oyo East have all recorded one case each.
“Thirteen people have also recovered from the infection and discharged, while two people have died from coronavirus-related complications in the state,” Makinde added.
Some indigenes have started expressing fears about the discovery of Covid-19 in the ancient town.
Alhaji Saheed Siyanbola, in a Facebook post early Sunday morning, recalled how “Yesterday, I was on my way from Eleekara back to town when an ambulance bearing some COVID 19/NCDC inscriptions, with its siren blaring, zoomed off towards Ibadan. From the way it moved, the bus had a suspect! And I knew there was trouble. I consoled myself with the probability that the bus could be coming from Ilorin but I wasnt convinced. Oyo ti ni suspect.
“Alas, my fear was confirmed early this morning when I woke up to the news that a Covid 19 suspect has been confirmed, in Oyo town, Kosobo to be precise.”
Siyanbola, who is popularly known as Omo Iya Kunmi, however warmed people to follow the guidelines on COVID-19.
“Naturally, I could have shared the usual concerns as I have in other cases found earlier elsewhere but here I am, with my heart beating fast! The gospel truth is “Wahala wa”. This isnt to create panic but I hope at the end od the day, we will be confronted with the cold reality and start taking things serious.
“By all indications, Oyo town isa community where ‘every one knows every other person’. The likelihood of a fast community transmission is damn high!,” he added.
In his own reaction, a public affairs analyst, Alhaji Rahaman Onike, said that it has become clear that the people of the ancient town now have reasons to be more serious with NCDC directives, protocols and guidelines.
“Whether the reported case of COVID-19 was discovered through contact tracing,index case, community transmission or probably the person was the one that personally surrendered himself, the fact remains that Oyo has become a town to watch like others.We can no longer say that coronavirus cannot reach our community.With this sad news,it means we are all vulnerable.
“It is unfortunate however that despite warnings and awareness activities of the various government agencies our people never took the fight against the coronavirus serious as expected,” he added.
