Covid-19: Lagos may reinforce lockdown to stem community transmission

There are indications that the Lagos State government may reinforce lockdown on the state to stem rapid community transmission of COVID-19 pandemic.

A source close to the State House, told BusinessDay early Wednesday morning that the government is ‘very worried’ by the number of cases still being recorded and there is fear that the easing of the lockdown could aggravate the situation.

Daily statistics from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) shows that between Monday, May  4 and Tuesday, May 5, a total of 80 new infections had been recorded in Lagos. About 37 cases were confirmed on Monday while on Tuesday, additional 43 were reported.

Although the state on Tuesday alone discharged 60 patients from its various isolation centres, there is, however, growing concern within the government where to keep increasing number of infected cases if the spike continues at the rate being seen.

Existing isolation centres are being overstretched, forcing the state government to move some patients to undisclosed private facilities for treatment, the source who craved anonymity confirmed to BusinessDay.

It was gathered that the state COVID-19 committee, where Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu sits as the Chief Incident Commander, is disturbed by the non adherence to the protocols and guidelines on the gradual relaxation of the lockdown as witnessed on Monday and Tuesday.

The guidelines announced by the government for the phased easing of the lockdown were that the residents must wear face masks in public places, avoid overcrowding, limit carriage capacities of commercial vehicles to 60 percent, banks should open more branches to customers, offices should open between 9am and 3pm and operate at 60 percent of their staff strength, provision of hand-washing and sanitizers at entrances to all offices, among others.

But it was a bundle of confusion on Monday, April 4 when what was supposed to be a controlled relaxation of the lockdown began, as residents and commercial buses operators spurned the face masks and the social and physical distancing protocols.

Commercial drivers operated with overload vehicles with some of the passengers wearing no face masks. There was also no provision in the buses for hand sanitizers as directed by the state government.

The situation was no different in markets, as buyers and sellers practically trampled on one another with many of having no nose masks.

Perhaps the worse scenarios were in the banks as thousands of customers thronged bank premises for different transactions, forcing security personnel at the banks to physical engaged anxious and disgruntled customers.

The situation was made worse by the fact that banks refused to open all their branches, leaving customers to concentrate on a few of the branches opened. Many Lagosians are not e-banking compliant and still prefer the physical contact with bank personnel for their transactions.

BusinessDay learnt that the Lagos State government is studying the situation and discussing with stakeholders possible ways of improving compliance with COVID-19 protocols.

Gbenga Omotosho, the state commissioner for information and strategy had said on radio programme that the government would not be applying force to secure residents’ compliance with the guidelines “as we are in a democracy”.

BusinessDay gathered that the government might be compelled to reinforce the lockdown if the situation does not improve before this weekend.