Delta State government has confirmed that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government, assisted the state with N100 million during the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The PDP-led state government also admitted that there were other forms of assistance given to the state, adding that the state was also expecting other assistance from the Federal Government.
The State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, made this revelation on Thursday while briefing journalists on decisions of the state government on lockdown relaxation.
He said the state has 1, 780 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with over 1, 600 discharged patients leaving less than 180 active cases.
According to him, the home care approach adopted by the state, yielded positive results, stating that the Covid-19 curve in the state has come down compared to the earlier time.
Aniagwu further announced that the state government has approved the reopening of cinemas, film Houses, eateries and hotel restaurants, noting that they must operate at 50 percent of their capacity and ensure all COVID-19 preventive protocols as enshrined by the NCDC were observed.
He warned that the state government will continue to monitor the operations of these cinemas and film houses to ensure compliance with the COVID-19 preventive measures.
“Recall that in our last press briefing, we mentioned that churches and worship centres can now hold more than one service, that still remains, but today we are announcing further relaxation of the COVID-19 protocol and that is to the effect that owners of movies and cinema houses can now operate.
“But they can only do so at 50 percent capacity, in which case they are not going to fill everywhere. For instance if a movie theatre is supposed to take 50 persons, they should organise it such that it will take 25 persons at a time.
“They must constantly fumigate the halls, just as they must also observe all the important protocols that we have reeled out in the past, that is sanitising or washing of hands of persons coming into the theatre houses, and of course wearing of face mask is compulsory for everybody going to access such movie houses,” he said.
“We will continue to monitor what different persons are doing and if anybody is found to have contravened the protocols we are giving out, be rest assured that we will take action.
“We sympathise with them because we know what it takes for their business centres to be closed for this period of time but its important that we preserve the lives of our people.
“As we continue to review the processes, we will inform them on further directives but for now, they must operate at 50 per cent and then observing other preventive protocols.
“Our decision is to also enable our people working in such places to return to work and to also allow these businesses become functional again.” he added.
He said restaurants in hotels can now operate but without buffet adding that if people must be allowed to eat in the hotel restaurants, the officials must be the ones to serve them.
The Information Commissioner further said clubs and lounges remained closed until government devises a solution on how they can be reopened without aggravating the spread of the virus.
