The Jigawa Government said it would enroll into schools 1,322 Almajiris repatriated from various states.
Gov. Muhammad Badaru announced this while updating newsmen on COVID-19 pandemic in the state on Wednesday in Dutse.
“As I mentioned in my previous speech, 1,345 Almajiris were repatriated from various states to Jigawa state. We took good care of them and provided for their social welfare and health needs.
“All these Almajiris have been handed back to their parents apart from 23 that have active COVID-19 disease and currently receiving treatment in one of the isolation facilities.
“We have directed the enrollment of those discharged into primary schools to commence western as well as continue Qur’anic education,” Badaru said.
The governor said that the state was reaching a turning point in the fight against the COVID-19 as numbers of new infections were decreasing.
He said that new cases were mainly derived from contact tracing, rather than freshly imported infections.
He said that the development was clear indication that the government could overcome the pandemic by accelerating and refining its current response strategies.
“Nonetheless, this decreasing trend will be sustained only if all of us continue to support government’s efforts and observe laid down measures put in place to checkmate the spread of the disease.
“As we loosen up and relax lockdowns, we must observe social distancing, personal hygiene and use of face masks while in the midst of the public.
“Anything short of these will soar the pandemic and lead to another wave of infection that can be disastrous and devastating,” Badaru warned.
The governor further stated that work was ongoing to scale up isolation bed capacity to 450.
According to him, if the decreasing trend continues, the state may not hit the projected target of 800 cases as predicted in the best case scenario projection of modeling experts.
“I promised scaling up isolation bed capacity to 450. Work is currently ongoing to achieve this target.
“However, if the trend continues, we may not hit the projected target of 800 cases as predicted in the best case scenario projection of modeling experts.
“Nonetheless, we will fulfill our promise as earlier pledged,” Badaru assured. (NAN)