The Federal Government has extended by two weeks, the revised lockdown order that allowed for the gradual reopening of businesses in Lagos, the FCT and Ogun with only a late night curfew.
The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said on Monday that the current phase of the planned relaxation would remain in place but with stricter enforcement measures because the country was not ready for a full reopening of the economy.
He said, “The two weeks extension of Phase One of the eased restriction is also to enable other segments of the economy to prepare adequately for compliance with the guidelines, preparatory to reopening in the coming weeks.”
He said, the president has approved the “measures, exemptions, advisories, and scope of entities allowed to reopen under phase one of the eased locked down, shall be maintained across the federation for another two weeks effective from 12 00 midnight today (18th May, 2020 to 1st June, 2020).”
Mustapha added that the government would intensify efforts to ‘tell (communicate), trace and treat cases; elevate the level of community ownership of non-pharmaceutical interventions and maintain the existing lockdown order in Kano for an additional two weeks.”
He said other measures included, “Imposition of precision lockdown in states, or in metropolitan/high-burden LGAs, that are reporting a rapidly increasing number of cases, when the need arises. This would be complemented with the provision of palliatives and continued re-evaluation of the impact of the interventions.
“Aggressively scale-up of efforts to ensure that communities are informed, engaged and participating in the response with enhanced public awareness in high-risk states.”
