As part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday ordered the closure of all markets in the state except food markets and those selling essential commodities.
Sanwo-Olu, at a press conference, said the closure of the markets would take effect from Thursday and would last for seven days in the first instance.
He noted that there had been an increase in the total number of confirmed cases nationwide, with Lagos recording the highest number.
Explaining more measures to check COVID-19 spread, he stated, “All open markets and stores are directed to close, except for sellers of food and medicines, medical equipment and other essential life-saving products. For those that fall into the aforementioned categories, it is imperative that they observe necessary precautionary measures of social distancing.”
“Let us refrain from gatherings or congregations of any kind at all at this time; and where we must absolutely gather, we are changing that directive, effective from Thursday from 50 to 25.”
He said Lagos could not afford a total lockdown because of the economic implication but measures should be put in place to check the spread of the virus.
The governor stated, “It is not a total lockdown; we still want people on essential services to go about their normal activities. We are trying to de-centralise markets in Lagos. This is why we want to use some of our closed schools as markets, so people can buy food and medicine without going a long distance.
“We will review the decision after a week. If we see a slow down, certainly we will get back to work. We do not want to shut down, we just want to be proactive. We want people to just calm down the spread so that we get to where we need to get to quicker and faster,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor added that the state was tracking 1,800 people who might have had contact with any of the confirmed cases.
The State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the majority of the confirmed cases were imported.
“Out of the 30 positive cases we have in Lagos, the majority are imported, about 20, while five are contacts that we have been tracing and the remaining five are cases we have no idea of where they acquired the infection,” he said.
Also, the commissioner advised people that attended African Magic viewers’ Choice Award to go into self-isolation as they could have been exposed to the virus.
In a tweet, he stated,” I hereby notify you that all participants at the African Magic viewers’ Choice Award (AMVCA) held on14th March at @EkoHotels may have come in contact with one of the confirmed cases in Lagos and are most likely to have been exposed to #COVID-19 Infection.
“Attendees at the said event are therefore advised to: observe strict self- isolation, call our #TollFree line 08000corona if they notice any of the #COVID19 related symptoms, Let’s #TakeResponsibility by practicing #SocialDistancing to prevent the spread of the virus.”
