The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has ordered workers from Grade level 1 to 12 to stay at home as part of steps to curtail the spread of the ravaging coronavirus.
The authority also ordered the immediate closure of shops in the markets and neighbourhood centres, except those selling food items and other essential commodities.
Also to be shut down with immediate effect are churches and mosques.
FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, gave the order on Tuesday in Abuja at a press briefing.
He said, “Shops in the markets and neighbourhood centres in the FCT are to be shut to traders except those who sell essential commodities and medicines. However, pharmacies and supermarkets selling essential products and bakeries are to remain open but abide strictly by laid down measures.”
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While noting that the FCTA had raised an emergency response team to tackle the spread, the minister explained that containing the virus depended largely on personal choices.
Bello disclosed that the Zuba General Hospital would be converted into an isolation and treatment centre to accommodate more patients should the need arise even as he said the FCTA would work closely with the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital to expand the capacity of the current isolation and treatment centre to accommodate more patients by providing the essential facilities.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, who was at the briefing, assured that security agencies would enforce the order restricting gathering to not more than 50 persons in churches and mosques.
As of this morning, the FCT has 8 confirmed coronavirus cases.