The Presidential Task Force on C-19 has released new guidelines to help contain the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which are the least restrictive since the government first imposed a lockdown on a number of states.
Under the new guidelines, commercial banks will resume their normal operations while the airline industry are expected to begin preparation for a possible resumption of flights on June 21.
Sani Aliyu, the national coordinator of the presidential taskforce on COVID-19 who read out some of these guidelines however said the June 21 date for flights to begin was not sacrosanct.
He said, “When we say from June 21, we mean that we are preparing the aviation sector towards that date. That date may not necessarily be June 21, it could be June 26, 28 or even July 1”.
“It depends on whether or not they are prepared. So we are giving them a time frame of three weeks to start preparing for domestic flights.
“Once we open up the skies to domestic flights then we would have to review the arrangements regarding interstate travel because you cannot have a ban on interstate travel and you have people flying from one state to another.
On other measures and guidelines, he said, “There would be full opening for the financial sector with banks now allowed to operate with more working hours five days a week.
“The mass gathering of more than 20 people outside of a work place or places of worship remain prohibited. There would be controlled access to markets and locations of places of economic activities but local authorities will continue to provide guidance on opening times. ”
He said, “Restrictive opening of places of worship will be based on state governments protocols and strict guidelines on physical distancing and other non-pharmaceutical interventions and just to clarify this would apply to the regular church and mosque services only.
“Mandatory supervised isolation of person of persons arriving the country will continue to be for 14 days until a new policy comes into play. ”
He said, “There would be no further evacuation of Nigerians until a new policy currently developed with the private sector comes into place. Ban of gatherings of more than 20 people outside of a workplace.”