The Nigerian government on Friday said it is contemplating a targeted lockdown in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and major cities in Nigeria as the number of COVID-19 cases soars in the West African nation.
National Incident Manager, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Mukhtar Muhammed, on a Channels TV Sunrise Daily programme, lamented the sharp increase in COVID-19 in the affected states.
Muhammed said even if there would be a lockdown, it would not be total.
He said a couple of weeks back, the PTF analysed the data and identified the hotspot local government areas.
“Certainly, even if we are going to have a lockdown, it is not going to be a total lockdown. A couple of weeks back, we analysed the data and we identified the hotspot local government areas,” Muhammad said.
“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, and Plateau. Even in most other states, it is the urban areas that are involved. So, if we are going to have any restrictions, it will be in these areas.
“The urban areas are the most affected and that is why we have these superspreaders and that is where we are going to target. We have analysed that and we are advising the states based on the data that these are the focused areas where these transmissions are more than the others.”
Nigeria has so far carried out 1.2 million tests as the world battles to contain the infections and flatten the curve.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the country has recorded over 120,000 COVID-19 cases, although 101,511 infected persons have been discharged. Over 1,550 persons have also died of the disease in the country.
Nigeria is expecting 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine in February.
On Thursday, Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, noted that the country has secured additional 41 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as the fight to tame the disease gathers steam.
