Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki has extended the dusk-to-dawn curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m for another 14 days.

Obaseki revealed this at a media briefing in Benin on the progress made so far to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

According to him, since his last public update about 10 days ago, Edo State has made remarkable progress in the area of screening, testing, and improving awareness on the pandemic for its residents, but he only expects cases to go up as a result of increased testing.

He added that he is confident that Nigeria can beat the virus if we all follow the measures put in place strictly.

His words, “Since my last public update about 10 days ago, we have made tremendous progress in the area of screening, testing and improving awareness on the pandemic for our people.

“Working closely with the public and private hospitals, we have screened no fewer than 20,000 people and tested 297 of them.

“This increased screening and testing is the reason for the increased number of cases in the state.

“We are aggressively pushing to screen our minimum target of about 500,000 people and test about one percent of them which is about 5,000 in the next few weeks.

“As we increase testing, we are likely to see an astronomic rise in the number of cases in the state.

“Of the 20,000 people we have screened and the 297 sample taken, we have recorded 37 confirmed cases as at today, discharged eight and lost three people.

“It is worthy of note that late testing was a strong factor leading to fatality. That is why I am advising everybody to go out for screening at the numerous screening centres in the state”.

“Am confident that we can beat this virus if we follow the measures put in place strictly.

“I want to appreciate the good people of the state for their cooperation and compliance with the curfew which l imposed 10 days ago.

“I know that the curfew has created inconveniences and loss of incomes to many families, however, this is the sacrifice we have to pay to protect the citizens and their families.

“We have decided to begin another round of palliative distribution to the vulnerable groups in our communities.

“With the lessons we have learnt in the past, we have put measures in place to make sure that only the targeted people receive these items.”