By Babajide Okeowo
As the numbers of new COVID 19 cases continue to soar, the Federal Government on Friday dropped a hint that it is contemplating a targeted lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, and major cities in Nigeria to curb the spread of the virus.
The National Incident Manager of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily monitored by The Matrix.
He expressed worries that though recoveries from the disease in the country have crossed the 100,000 marks, 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. Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, and 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 super spreaders 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” Dr. Muhammad disclosed.
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria had in recent days warned the Federal Government against imposing another lockdown on the country.
Any lockdown the apex bank warned will erode all the efforts of the Federal Government at reviving the economy that was brought to its knees due to the effect of the previous lockdown.
