Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has declared a total lockdown in the state, starting from midnight of Monday, April 27.

The governor said only essential workers, pharmaceuticals and foodstuff sellers, are exempted from the restriction of movement.

This announcement follows the confirmed index case of the coronavirus in the State.

The index case who is a 47-year-old woman presented herself at the Bayelsa Specialist hospital in Yenagoa with a history of poor appetite, fever, headache, cough, chest pain, for almost a week. She also has a history of hypertension and diabetes.

She, however, denied having any history of travelling outside the state.

Governor Diri added that she is in a stable condition and has been evacuated to the Isolation center at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital Okolobiri and contact tracing, has begun.

The specialist hospital has been closed down and decontamination has commenced.

Samples from the doctors, nurses, and all those who visited the facility over the week, and came in contact with her, during her admission, would be traced and isolated.

The Governor noted that although the woman refused the result of the test conducted, Bayelsa State Government won’t reject the test results as it was scientifically done, and she presented herself for testing. (Channels TV)