Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Sunday, relaxed the existing curfew imposed on the state. The current curfew in force in the state now runs from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m replacing the initial curfew of 7 p.m to 5 a.m.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Makinde, who is also the Chairman of the COVID-19 task force in the state, confirmed that the decision was reached at the COVID-19 Task Force meeting presided by him.

The state has so far recorded 233 COVID-19 positive cases with 171 of them active.

According to the governor, several creative measures were approved for implementation by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), to coordinate the operations of the thematic segments of the containment drive.

One of such is the approval of a facility in Ibadan for use as an observation and isolation centre for a category of patients after thorough reviews.

“The Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force headed by His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde has approved that the curfew currently in force in the state runs from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. The new directive replaces the initial order which pegged the curfew at between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.

“Agreement has been struck with the management of a facility in Ibadan to provide bed spaces for a number of positive cases, whose status has been well considered by the experts”.The statement read.

Advising farmers in the state to take advantage of the decision to stop the curfew at 5 a.m. to enhance their farming activities, he also disclosed that the state government is wrapping up further renovation and face-lifting activities at its isolation centres located at Agbami, Jericho, Ibadan, Igbo-Ora, Ogbomoso, Saki and Aawe, near Oyo town.

The statement also indicated that the planned community testing, which could not take off at the weekend due to the festivities and public holidays, would commence by the end of the week and health workers who will participate in the exercise will be trained in the 10 locations at the end of the holidays,