The Cross River State capital, Calabar, has been
enveloped by COVID-19 scare following reports that 28 persons suspected to be
workers of an oil exploration company who entered the town last Saturday are
being lodged in a form of isolation at the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel.
The scare may have been heightened due to the
confirmation of a COVID-19 suspected patient who tested positive in Port-Harcourt
last week, and the suspicion that the 35 Americans whose flight was denied from
landing in Calabar last Monday, were billed to converge with the oil workers
that are in Tinapa.
Sources close to Tinapa and the hotel, who pleaded
not to be quoted, said the 28 oil workers are being lodged in a manner that can
be described as ‘Self-quarantine’ as they asked the management of the hotel not
to accommodate any other guest while they are being lodged there.
The sources also said the oil workers demanded that
none of the workers should leave the hotel while they are lodged there, and that
they would pay for all services and inconveniences.
The development has created serious anxiety because
of the report of a positive case of COVID-19 in Port-Harcourt, and the fact
that the US where 35 others were to join them from currently holds the record
of the country with the highest rate of the virus infections.
Also, their demand to stay isolated or
‘quarantined’ with the workers of the hotel through out their stay, even
without the knowledge of the state government about their presence in the state,
has added to the scare.
The fear in the town is that they have not undergone
any form of test since they arrived Calabar last Saturday, more so as they had
entered the town after the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in
Port-Harcourt, River State.
Besides, it is feared that if any of them is a
carrier of the virus, there was no guarantee that such person would not infect
their contacts in the hotel, who are residents of the town, and even other
contacts in the town since the much-talked-about self-isolation is not
guaranteed.
One of the sources, who is very much privy to their
stay in the hotel, spoke to some journalists in confidence about the
development.
"They are oil workers from Port-Harcourt. Why
did they not stay in Port-Harcourt and fly with their chopper to their rig? Why
should they come in, and stay quietly in a hotel, when hotels are shutting
down? So, there is something fishy about their stay. They don't want the
workers to go out, and funnily enough, Tinapa is in the outskirts of Calabar
and its not even functioning to accommodate guest, let alone oil workers who
often go for the best hotel in town. Besides, Cross River has no oil rig or
platform.
"Or could it be that as rig workers, they
don't want the rig to be infected or alarmed, hence they decided to keep them
on shore, first for observation for some time as they are managed by their own
doctor? This disease grows in astrometry order, which is one can affect one,
two infect four and in that order. That is why the Cross River State Government
has to get to the bottom of it because if 28 persons are infected, it is
possible over 1,000 can get the virus in Calabar," the source said.
Responding to enquiries from the media about the
presence of the 28 oil workers from Port Harcourt, the Cross River State
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Betta Edu, said she had no knowledge of their
presence in Calabar.
"I have not heard of that, I only know of the
35 persons who tried to make their way into the state but were stopped.
“I have never heard about this other group of
people. I just heard about it for the first time, and I will send our team down
there to confirm the story.
The general situation in Calabar is still calm, and
we are working on sensitisation, especially in the rural areas, where they seem
not to understand the implications of COVID-19," she stated.
In a related development, the state government has
offered explanation on why it stopped the aircraft carrying 35 Americans from
the US from landing at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar.
The state government said it took the decision in
line with the order of the state Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, that the air, land,
and sea boarders of the state be closed for a period of time to checkmate the
spread of COVID-19, which has become a pandemic.
The state government's position on the development
was stated in a statement issued yesterday by the Special Adviser to the Governor
on Media and Publicity, Mr. Christian Ita, entitled: ‘No Air Peace flight
landed in Calabar’.
It stated in part: "While there was indeed a
curious arrangement to have the flight come to Calabar, the governor, however,
refused outright to allow the airline fly into the state in line with his order
to restrict flights as well as other cross border movements on land, air and
sea."
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