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Ayade reveals why Cross River is yet to record any COVID-19 case

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The governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, on Thursday revealed the reason the state had not recorded any COVID-19 case yet.

Nigeria as at Thursday morning had 6677 confirmed cases of COVID-19 shared among 34 states and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Cross River and Kogi states are the only two states in the country yet to record any case of the dreaded virus.

Ayade, who spoke in an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, said the state was yet to record a case of the virus because his government responded quickly to the pandemic by shutting its borders, closing airways and declaring ‘No Mask No Movement.’

He also said that he, keept vigil at state borders to ensure safety, contributed.

“As soon as we started reading in the papers and watching on Television the impact of the pandemic globally, what we did as a state was to quickly respond to it by blocking our state against the virus. We locked our borders immediately and commenced ‘No Mask No Movement’. We were proactive and we have continued to sustain that.

“Also, because we share borders with Cameroon, we ordered over 100 brand new vehicles. Policed all our borders, between Nigeria and Cameroon, including the legal and illegal. We ensured that we blocked all access to other states. We closed our airways.

“I lead from the front, I personally spent the night at the borders, keeping vigil to ensure that entry and exit points are safe. Our borders and being manned by senior security operatives to ensure there is no compromise at that point,” Ayade said.

He said the efforts by his administration earned them an applaud from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health.

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He said, “Yesterday, NCDC and Federal Ministry of health officials just left here and they gave us pass mark. They were very impressed with our isolation centres and laboratories. They were very impressed with our border closures and checkpoints we have put in place to ensure the use of masks.”

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