FG updates lock-down rules as COVID-19 cases increase

Federal Government of Nigeria has reviewed the total lockdown it imposed on the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos and Ogun states to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The government, in the new guidelines it issued on Wednesday,  stated that markets selling food would open from 10am to 2pm every other day.

Also, supermarkets and pharmacies are to open from 10am to 4pm every day, but must maintain a high level of hygiene. The new guidelines also ban bus services during the lockdown. It adds that a mass gathering of more than 20 people is not allowed.

The Federal Government reviewed the lockdown on Wednesday just as COVID-19 cases rose to 174 with 35 new cases.

The Nigeria Centre for  Disease Control had on Tuesday put the total number of COVID-19 cases  in the country at 139.

Following the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, the President, Major-General Muhammadu  Buhari (retd.), on Sunday ordered the lockdown of the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states.

He ordered residents of the FCT and the two states to stay at home during the 14-day lockdown, which began in Lagos and Abuja at 11pm on Monday.

The President, however, exempted health personnel, journalists, workers of telecommunication and power companies from the stay-at-home order.

On Monday, Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, and some prominent lawyers, including Mr Femi Falana, SAN,  disagreed with the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, over the legality of the lockdown.

In the new  guidelines released to journalists by the National Coordinator for the fight against COVID-19, Dr  Sani Aliyu, during a press conference organised by  the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, supermarkets, food stores, pharmacies and markets are exempted from the lockdown, but must  operate under strict rules.