Nigerian government contemplates total lockdown in major cities like Abuja and Lagos

NIGERIAN government ministers are considering introducing another total lockdown in several major cities across the country as the number of Covid-19 cases soars across the country during this second wave of the pandemic.

Although Nigeria has been spared the worst of the global pandemic, the country has had more than 127,000 confirmed cases of the virus. What is worrying government health officials is that Nigerians are totally ignoring the protocols introduced such as social distancing, wearing facemasks, washing their hands, using sanitizers, etc.

Acting as if the pandemic does not exist, large social gatherings are common across Nigeria, with revellers not even wearing facemasks. With the second wave of the pandemic now spreading across the globe, the Nigerian government is considering shutting down major cities including  Lagos, Abuja and Kaduna.

Dr Mukhtar Muhammad, the national incident manager of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, said:  “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.”

“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Abuja and Lagos, Kaduna and  Plateau states. The urban areas are the most affected and that is why we have these super-spreaders and that is where we are going to target."

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC),  there were 864 new coronavirus infections in the country this morning. It added that the nation’s deaths toll to now stand at 1,547, with the Federal Capital Territory recording the highest toll with 129 cases followed by Anambra with 87 incidents.