Covid-19: FG insists lockdown will be an alternative as infection rate soars

Contrary to Information Minister Lai Mohammed’s statement on Monday, the Federal government says it will have no alternative than to impose fresh lockdown on the country as cases of Covid infections continue to rise

The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Sani Aliyu, stated this during a briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

Mohammed, on Monday, said the Federal Government has no plan to impose a fresh lockdown as the country battles the second wave of the pandemic.

“If these numbers continue to go up and we start having significant deaths, we will have no option. If we do not want to lock down, now is the time to make sure that we follow the non-pharmaceutical interventions,” Aliyu said.

The PTF Chairman and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who spoke earlier, also  said the Presidential Task Force is very concerned about the increasing daily numbers that we are recording.

“On 6th of January 2021, we recorded 1,664 infections. This is yet another all-time high in Nigerian and we must all take full responsibility through compliance and vigilance.”

Nigerians who managed to pull through the months-long lockdown imposed last years are anxious to go through a similar experience in 2021.

The Federal Government had in March 2020 locked down the Federal Capital Territory as well as Lagos and Ogun States for over five weeks as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic. The lockdown had a tremendous effect on economic activities with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry putting the loss at about N3bn in the period under review.

Many jobs were also lost as airlines, hotels, banks, amongst others cut their workforce due to the crushing effect of the lockdown.