Lagos state government threatens to impose new lockdown over increasing COVID-19 cases

The Lagos state government has warned that it could issue another lockdown as Coronavirus cases in the state continue to escalate.

Lagos state, Nigeria’s commercial capital has recorded over 9,741 cases with 1,475 recovered and 126 deaths and the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, has revealed that the local government areas with the highest number of cases were Eti-Osa, Alimosho, Kosofe, Ikeja, Oshodi, Surulere and Lagos Mainland.

Speaking to journalists at a media briefing, Prof Akin Abayomi, said the government would not hesitate to impose another lockdown if the COVID-19 cases continue to sky rocket.

“We believe we are managing a delicate balance between the public health crisis and the economic livelihood of Lagosians. If things are getting out of hand, we will certainly consider another lockdown,” he said.

“We are in the middle of the outbreak and we have not even peaked yet, and so the cases are still rising. We still expect to see a lot more cases in the next one month or two. I would use this platform to remind Lagosians that we have not yet peaked and Lagos is still going through the active community transmission of COVID-19.

“I think what may be giving you a false sense of security or confidence is that we say most people have mild to moderate disease. While that may be so, between three and five per cent of Lagosians that catch this infection have an extremely severe to critical form of COVID-19 and the risk of dying in that percentage is extremely high.

“Two to five per cent may seem like a small percentage, but even one per cent of 25 million people is a lot of Lagosians. We are not prepared to lose 250,000 Lagosians and we certainly will not even like to contemplate that number.

“So I appeal to Lagosians, particularly people who we believe are in the vulnerable category; anybody over the age of 50 or 55 with underlying medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity or any other medical condition that interferes with their immune system, they are extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.

“And the young people may be going out there with mild to moderate disease but they certainly go home in the evening and expose their parents and grandparents to the vulnerabilities.

“So I appeal to Lagosians, keep practising the social distancing measures and I hope these practices will help to flatten the curve and protect certain vulnerable members of the community.”