The Centre for Information and Technology Development, CITAD has called on Kano state government to strengthen the lockdown of the city and 44 Local Government Areas in order to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

In a statement signed by Ali Sabo the Campaigns and Communication of Centre and made available to Arewa Affairs.

He said ” As the order of stay at home enters day six, the Centre for information Technology and Development continued to monitor the situation in the state, give possible suggestions to the state government on ways and measures that need to put in place to strengthen the order and ensure the total compliance by all people in the state”.

Sabo added that the essence of giving the directive of restricting people movements is to curtail the spread of the virus among people.

” Kano as densely as it is it would not afford to continue recording more cases looking at how fragile our health system is, so the best way to ensure we defeat this virus is by staying at home and complying with all the instructions given by health professionals”.

Yesterday, Kano state recorded the highest number of new confirmed cases in the country (23) which took the tally of the total number of the confirmed cases in the state to 59.

The centre expressed concern over rising number of coronavirus cases in the state.

” This is a state which less a weak ago it didn’t have any single case. This shows how the virus is spreading among people like wildfire which if adequate measures are not taken the state is going to surpass Abuja which as of yesterday has confirmed cases of 89 despite having its first case more than three weeks”.

Furthermore, CITAD has noticed with total disappointment how people are getting back to their normal lives in some areas of the state especially in the inner-city areas.

” This is something that should worry every right-thinking person, not only government looking at how the number of positive cases in the state is increasing on daily basis. It is good to note that even the most developed countries in the world are finding it hard to contain this virus once it got out of hand. In the United State of America alone, more than 42,000 people have lost their lives due to coronavirus with more than 600,000 confirmed cases” the statement further reads .

Also, CITAD has noticed with concern how fake news are going around in the state about the increase of the number of deaths in the state which has been reported by many online media.

According to Sabo ”This in our part is targeted at rendering the stay at home order ineffective and to also weaken the spirit of people in the state. While investigations by several individuals and organizations have confirmed that there were deaths, the number being quoted in the media appears to be out of tune with reality. However, in this context we urge that government thoroughly investigate the matter and make public its findings to the public.

Finally, we are calling on the state government to deploy more security personnel not only to major roads and big residential areas in the state but to every nooks and crannies to ensure the total compliance of the order.

All football activities in the state must be stopped and anyone found violating the order should be punished. This can be achieved by incorporating districts, villages and wards heads and vigilante groups in the monitoring team.

The state government to ensure from today every death in the state must be taken for autopsy before burial to ascertain the cause of the death. The state government to publish the list of the exempted items so that public will not be claiming ignorance”.