The Niger Government, on Tuesday, banned the operation of commercial motorcycles in the state for two weeks, as part of measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger, who announced the ban at a news conference in Minna, also said that measures would be taken on inter-state travels, even on free days.
He maintained that the ban on night travels was still in force from 7 pm. to 6 am.
“Despite all the measures put in place to curtail the community transmission of COVID-19, we are still faced with challenges of people breaching the order of social distancing in public places.
“Our people, especially commercial motorcyclists, operators of Keke NAPEP and other commercial drivers, also flout the orders on wearing of face masks.
”It is also regrettable that the closure of inter-state boundaries has not been very effective,” he said.
Bello urged the general public to be more vigilant, adhere strictly to the rules of personal hygiene, observe social distancing, wear face masks and seek medical attention in the event of symptoms, such as fever, cough and catarrh.
He said that government had reached an advanced stage of establishing a molecular laboratory at the Minna General Hospital to increase the testing capacity for the disease and reduce the turnaround time for the release of results.
According to him, government has also trained 457 health workers and recruited 20 ad hoc staff, adding that government has commenced active case search within communities.
