Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said that the ongoing lockdown in the state might be extended beyond 14 days.
He said this during a media briefing on Saturday, hours after the Federal Government dropped a similar hint.
Sanwo-Olu said the lockdown would be extended depending on the situation of things, adding that the number of patients discharged in Lagos had risen to 24.
The governor, however, assured residents that palliatives would be provided.
He said: “If there’s a need to extend the lockdown, I will. We got one discharged patient today (recovered from the coronavirus). We are going to sit down with the committee that is working on the community markets and see if we can announce more next week.”
On alleged assault of residents by enforcement agents, Sanwo-Olu said, “There’s been no backlash on the handling of people by the security operatives so far. I always tell them to ‘wear a human face’.”
Meanwhile, residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos State and Ogun State face possible extension of the ongoing 14-day Coronavirus lockdown if they continue to violate the stay-at-home order.
The federal government warned on Friday that the only way to stop the spread of the deadly virus is for the people to play the part the government expects of them.
Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who dropped hint of a possible extension of the lockdown, said the stay at home order was not being strictly observed.
“If we don’t behave ourselves, there is a likelihood that the lockdown will be extended. But if we behave ourselves, there might not be an extension and I hope we do so,” he said at an interview session with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He added: “If we stay at home for two weeks and we are doing everything we are supposed to do, we should be able to effectively contain the disease.
“Therefore, my appeal to Nigerians is that they should obey the directive on social distancing, personal hygiene and shun gatherings. After two weeks, we will resume our normal life.
“But if they think it is a joke, then we may have to stay at home more than the two weeks.”
President Muhammadu Buhari announced the lockdown in a broadcast last Sunday as part of the effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The President said the it would last two weeks in the first instance to “identify, trace and isolate all individuals that have come into contact with confirmed cases.”
There were 111 cases in the country when he made the broadcast a week ago.
During the NAN interview, the Information Minister also said that government would not allow families of coronavirus victims claim their remains for burial.
Mohammed said such corpses are delicate hence the Federal Government has assumed responsibility for their handling and burial.
No comments:
Post a Comment