THE Osun State government has ordered the full reopening of markets and places of worship in the State.
In a new guideline on the ease of the lockdown induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Government said that all markets are now allowed to commence full operations, while worship centres that were restricted to once weekly meetings can now commence their weekly services, subject to COVID-19 safety protocol.
Funke Egbemode, the State Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, who made the announcement said that the new guideline takes immediate effect.
According to her “The State Government of Osun has appraised the current status of the State in the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and has decided to relax some of its lockdown measures following some emerging positive indices.”
She stated that the approval has been given for the full reopening of all markets and worship centres in the state, for the purpose of serving the needs of the people on the one hand and to preserve the means of the traders’ livelihood on the other.
Egbemode added that all citizens, whether traders or clients, are urged to continue to wear nose masks in public places, and also ensure regular use of hand sanitizer especially at the end of every exchange.
“The government has also granted approval for worship centres to commence their normal weekly activities in addition to the Friday jumat and Sunday Services,” she said.
“Worship centres are enjoined to observe the regular precautionary measures of wearing of face masks, hand washing, temperature screening and avoidance of physical contacts in public places.”
While stating that practices that require sharing of materials should be limited’ the Commissioner added that adequate provision should be made for handwashing facilities such as soap, running water and hand sanitizer at entry points and at strategic places, for use by leaders and attendees.
She said there has been significant improvement in the statistics of the state with respect to the infection, but the state is not COVID-19 -free yet.
Egbemode appealed for a collective responsibility by every resident of the state to get rid of the state of the virus.
Since its first outbreak in the country, Osun State accounts 839 confirmed COVID-19 cases. It has recorded 790 recoveries with 17 deaths.
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