The Lagos State government on Sunday streamlined the guidelines on gradual easing of the Covid-19 lockdown as they relate to markets, offices, restaurants and public transportation.
The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who addressed journalists at State House, Marina, said food markets would be allowed to open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, while non-food markets would open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, all between the hours of 9am and 3pm.
Restaurants and eateries, however, have their operational hours extended from 9am to 7pm to enable Muslim faithfuls observing the Ramadan buy food to break their fast in the evening. But they are only permitted to serve take-aways as eat-in would not be allowed.
Sanwo-Olu reiterated the earlier guidelines as they affect business and corporate offices, including banks.
He maintained they are to open by 9am and close 3pm every working day for the next one to two weeks when the government hopes to review the relaxation directives based on new developments as they relate to the spike in the number of positive coronavirus cases being recorded in the state.
Offices and the corporate world, he stressed, must not exceed 60 percent of their workforce during this period, just as he also appealed to them to make adequate transportation arrangements for their staff, to reduce the risk of contracting the disease.
Banks, he added, must regularly disinfect their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
The governor also directed that public transportation would run from 6am to 7pm every day pending a review in one to weeks’ time.
While the state secretariat and other public offices would open on Tuesday, May 5, to public servants on grade level 15 and above, local government areas and local council development areas (LCDAs), religious and recreational centres, schools and hotels would remain closed except 15 other hotels being used for quarantine purposes by the government.
He said more isolation centres, including private homes are being made available to accommodate more patients as more cases are recorded in the state
“Starting tomorrow, Monday May 4, 2020, for the next two weeks, there will be a curfew across the state from 8pm to 6am daily.
All movement in and out of Lagos is prohibited, except for people carrying out essential services or transporting essential products such as agro-roducts, petroleum products, relief items, construction materials and registered courier services.
All public servants in the entire Lagos state public service are to remain at home on Monday , May 4, 2020.
From Tuesday, May 5, 2020, only critical staff on grade levels 15 and above, and who have also been specifically adjudged as critical staff by their accounting officers will be expected to go to work,” Sanwo-Olu said.
