Nigeria is planning a targeted lockdown on Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, and Plateau State, in response to the rising cases of the Covid-19 virus, the Presidential Task Force managing the pandemic has said.
National Incident Manager of the task force, Mukhtar Muhammed, disclosed this on Friday, saying that the rate of increase in the number of cases of the infection was becoming alarming in the three urban areas.
Muhammed spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, and explained that the government wanted economic activities to continue during the lockdown, but that the activities must be regulated.
According to Muhammed, data showed that urban local governments in the affected places recorded the highest cases of Covid-19 in the second wave of the pandemic in the country.
According to data by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Lagos (46,935 cases), Abuja (16,470 cases), Plateau (7,801) have recorded the highest number of Covid-19 infections and deaths in Nigeria since the first incidence occurred in February last year.
Nigeria recorded 1400 new infection cases on Thursday, January 28, 2021, according to figures released by the NCDC, taking the country’s total recorded cases to 127,560, and 1550 deaths.
“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,” Muhammed said.
“Mostly, the areas affected are the urban local governments in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, 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,” he added.
In March last year, the government announced an initial lockdown involving two states, Lagos and Ogun, and the FCT. It subsequently placed a national lockdown, as the level of infection rose.
