FG prolongs COVID-19 lockdown by one month over surge

Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Monday announced the extension of phase three of the eased lockdown by one month.

The chairman of PTF, Boss Mustapha, announced this at the weekly briefing of the task force in Abuja.

He said, “The PTF is improving on the International Travel Portal to minimise the challenges passengers keep encountering.

“Similarly, it is reviewing the guidelines on the implementation of phase three of the eased lockdown which is due to expire today.

“In view of the fact that our numbers are not abating, all extant measures prescribed in these guidelines are (subject to some modifications) extended by a period of one month with effect from Tuesday, January 26, 2020.”

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said the effort to access and deploy vaccines was progressing.

He said as already announced by COVAX, the initial 100,000 doses Nigeria was expecting would now arrive in the early weeks of February. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s COVID-19 cases shoot up again on Monday with Lagos, epicentre of the virus, taking a sharp lead.

According to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the nation reported 1,430 new cases on Monday, with Lagos posting 744 cases, more than half of the national figures.

Monday’s infections were far higher than the 964 cases raked in by the country on Sunday, which was the first time cases fell below 1,000 in over a month.

Following a distant second is Plateau, which posted 100 fresh cases, up from the 57 cases reported the previous day.

Others are: Oyo (77), FCT (75), Nasarawa (74), Katsina (48), Edo (42), Kano (41), Enugu (37), Rivers (34), Ogun (33), Kwara (32), Niger (28), Ebonyi (27), Kaduna (26), Borno (12), Yobe (10), Ekiti (5), and Gombe (1).

With today’s infection rate, total confirmed COVID-19 cases stand at 122,996, with 98,359 survivors discharged so far. Four deaths were reported on Monday, taking the total deaths so far to 1,507.