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What You Need to Know About Lagos State’s Guidelines for the “Second Phase of Easing the Lockdown” | #COVID19 Updates
Nigeria records 338 new COVID-19 cases
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded 338 new cases of the coronavirus in the country. In a tweet on Sunday night, the NCDC said that the new cases have taken the total number of infections in the country to 5959.
Of the new infections recorded, 177 cases were recorded in Lagos, 64 in Kano, 21 in FCT, 16 in Rivers, 14-in Plateau, 11 in Oyo, 9 in Katsina, 4 in Jigawa, 4 in Kaduna, 3 in Abia, 3 in Bauchi, 3 in Borno, 2 in Gombe, 2 in Akwa Ibom, 2 in Delta, 1 in Ondo, 1 in Kebbi, and 1 in Sokoto State.
In total, Nigeria has 5959 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 1594 patients discharged from various isolation centres across the country, with 182 recorded deaths.
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President Buhari to address the nation today – Aliyu Sani
According to Aliyu Sani, the national coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, President Muhammadu Buhari will address the nation today.
He shared the information when he appeared on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
Tolu Ogunlesi, the special assistant to the President on digital and new media also shared the news on his verified Twitter handle, on Sunday. He tweeted:
“We have made our recommendations to Mr. President and we will have to wait for his decision tomorrow.” — Dr. Sani Aliyu, National Coordinator, #PTFCOVID19, speaking tonight on @CTVpolitics with @seunokin.
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) May 17, 2020
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Lagos State governor shares new guidelines as Lagos kick-starts phase two of lockdown ease
Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced the second phase of the gradual easing of the lockdown and has given out new guidelines that would guarantee the safety of residents and help contain the spread of the virus.
Below is the governor’s speech shared via his personal Instagram page.
Dear Lagosians, it has been two weeks since we commenced a gradual and controlled easing of lockdown instituted to halt the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In my address to you on the 3rd of May, 2020, I noted that, in line with the decision of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, this controlled-easing period would last for six weeks, in three phases of two weeks each.
We have now completed the first two weeks, and moving into the second phase.Let me make it clear that all of the directives we issued for the first phase will continue to apply in this second phase.
With the size of the state’s economy and numbers of businesses that operate in our domain, we cannot afford to keep people and businesses on lockdown permanently.
In the coming days, we will start what we call Register-to-Open, which means all players in the restaurant business, event centres, entertainment, malls and cinemas will go through a form of re-registration and space management, in order to assess their readiness for reopening.
I don’t know when that opening will happen in the weeks ahead. But we want these businesses to begin to tune themselves to the reality of COVID-19 with respect to how their workspaces need to look like.
Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) and Safety Commission will also be visiting places of worship to evaluate their level of preparedness in the event of the Government considering easing restrictive measures banning their activities. Social distancing and hygiene would be fully considered in determining whether mosques and churches can re-open in the future.
We are reviewing and considering how the phased unlocking will happen. If we see a huge level of compliance, then it can happen in the next two to three weeks. If not, it could take a month or two months. It is until we are sure all of these players are ready to conform to our guidelines.
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UK aircraft impounded by the Federal Government for operating commercial flights into Nigeria
An aircraft owned by a United Kingdom company has been impounded by the Nigerian government for operating commercial flights into Nigeria, hereby going against the travel ban and measures being implemented to curb coronavirus.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, made this known via his verified Twitter handle, @hadisirika, on Sunday. He tweeted:
COVID-19. Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably we caught them conducting commercial flights. This is callous! The craft is impounded, crew being interrogated. There shall be maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve!
COVID-19. Flair Aviation, a UK company, was given approval for humanitarian operations but regrettably we caught them conducting commercial flights. This is callous! The craft is impounded, crew being interrogated. There shall be maximum penalty. Wrong time to try our resolve!??
— Hadi Sirika (@hadisirika) May 17, 2020
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Adamawa State Government has lifted the ban on religious gatherings and some activities in the state
In a statement in Adamawa on Sunday, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri lifted the restriction on worship places and social gatherings earlier imposed on the state, Channels News reports.
According to the statement, Churches, Mosques and the international Cattle Markets have been permitted to reopen, on the condition that social distancing is observed with no more than 50 people at a time, while the use hand sanitizers, washing of hands and temperature checks at the point of entry should be put in place. Although, the 8 pm to 6 am curfew will remain in place until further notice.
The Adamawa government said it now believes the contagion rate is low enough to justify a cautious easing of the restriction but warned that citizens must work extra hard on personal hygiene and strict adherence to laid down guidelines.
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Governor Umar Ganduje, Gawuna, and other officials to receive half salaries
The Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, his deputy, Nasiru Gawuna and other political office holders in the state, will henceforth receive 50 per cent of their monthly salary due to dwindling resources caused by COVID-19 lockdown.
According to Premium times, Abba Anwar, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, said this in a statement in Kano on Sunday. He said:
Due to shortfall in the federation account and collapse in the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) because of COVID-19 challenges, all political office holders in Kano State are to receive half salaries with effect from May.
There is also a serious setback in the IGR, due to COVID-19 pandemic challenges. Whereas almost all companies in the state are no longer in operation due to lockdown. Other areas where the state gets revenue are no longer operational. This also is another reason for slashing salaries.
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Xi Jinping to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony of WHA session
Chinese President, Xi Jinping will address the World Health Organization’s decision-making body, official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.
Xinhua said Xi will speak at the opening ceremony at the invitation of World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. According to CNN, a big part of the meeting’s agenda is a draft resolution signed by 100 countries calling for an independent “evaluation” into the coronavirus pandemic.
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The United States records more than 18,000 new cases
According to Johns Hopkins University, at least 18,873 new coronavirus cases and 808 COVID-19-related deaths were recorded in the United States on Sunday. That brings the nationwide totals to at least 1,486,757 cases and 89,562 deaths.
The totals include cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.
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