COVID-19: FG contemplates lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, others

The Federal Government on Friday said it is contemplating a targeted lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and major cities in Nigeria as the number of COVID-19 cases soars in the West African nation.

Although recoveries from the disease in the country have crossed 100,000, the Nigerian government is worried that with more than 127,000 infections, many citizens are not adhering to the safety protocols.

“Certainly, even if we are going to have a lockdown, it is not going to be a total lockdown. A couple of weeks back, we analysed the data and we identified the hotspot local government areas,” the National Incident Manager of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Mukhtar Muhammad, said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.

“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Plateau. Even in most other states, it is the urban areas that are involved. So, if we are going to have any restrictions, it will be in these areas.

“The urban areas are the most affected and that is why we have these superspreaders and that is where we are going to target. We have analysed that and we are advising the states based on the data that these are the focused areas where these transmissions are more than the others.”

41 Million More Doses

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire on Thursday noted that the country has secured additional 41 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as the fight to tame the disease gathers steam.

However, the date of the vaccine’s delivery into the country remains unknown as vaccine manufacturers struggle to meet global demand in time.

“We do not have an exact date,” Dr Ehanire said on Channels Television’s Politics Today. “The date it comes out depends on when the manufacturers are able to deliver, and that is not something that any country can enforce at this time.”  (Channels TV)