Fourteen Died as Cholera Hits Two LGs in Benue
By Hembadoon Orsar Makurdi
AREWA AGENDA- Fourteen Persons have lost their lives following an outbreak of Cholera in Agatu and Guma Local Government Areas of Benue State.
The Commissioner of Health and Human Services Dr. Joseph Ngbea who disclosed this to newsmen in Màkurdi yesterday after the State Executive Council meeting presided over by the state deputy Governor Engr. Benson Abounu said Four died in Guma while Ten persons died in Agatu.
There was an outbeak of cholera in the state which had already killed Ten people mostly children in Agatu and four in Guma, so I want to advise members of the public to be observant and report any suspected case of cholera outbreak in their areas”
According to Ngbea, Twenty-Five cases have been confirmed in Agatu and Ten in Abinsi, Community in Guma LG an attributed the outbreak to water contamination and dehydration, adding that the governor has ordered for the Supply of water to the affected communities.
The Governor has also directed the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH) to reserved ten beds for any Cholera Victim that will be rush to the Hospital, appealing to citizens to avoid drinking stagnant and contaminated water.
Meanwhile Schools in Benue state are to resume on the eighteenth of this month as earlier scheduled.
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Briefing newsmen shortly after the meeting, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mrs. Ngunan Addingi said with this, all categories of schools including primary, post primary and tertiary institutions would reopen on the said date.
Mrs. Addingi said the state executive council also approved ban on public gatherings, noting that only a limited number of persons would be allowed at other public places such as churches, mosques, weddings, restaurants and burials.
According to her, government would ensure that people entering Supermarkets would be made to wear face masks and that the Benue State Action Committee on covid-19 would meet with relevant stakeholders to fine tune arrangements on precautionary measures.
Also speaking to newsmen, Commissioner for Education, professor Dennis Tyavyar said the decision to reopen schools was predicted on the fact that students and pupils would be more organised within their school environments to observe covid-19 protocols than mingle with people in public where they stood the risk of contracting the virus.
Professor Tyavyar said there would be a staggering arrangement that allows schools to operate in sessions, pointing out that schools would be fumigated for them to be used.
Arewa Agenda is a publication of young writers and journalists from Northern Nigeria geared towards peaceful coexistence and national development through positive narratives.
