Lagos may consider another lockdown as coronavirus cases exceed 23,000

The Lagos State Government has said that it may have to consider a fresh lockdown due to the increase in coronavirus cases in the state and the country.

On Friday, June 26, 2020, the total number of confirmed cases of the pandemic in Nigeria rose to 23, 298, with Lagos recording the highest number of cases.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Lagos had 9,741 cases of the virus as of Friday.

While speaking at a briefing on Friday, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi said Lagos will not hesitate to consider another lockdown should cases of the pandemic go out of hand.

He said, “We believe we are managing a delicate balance between the public health crisis and the economic livelihood of Lagosians. If things are getting out of hand, we will certainly consider another lockdown.”

Lagos state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi says Lagos may consider anotehr lockdown.[Twitter/@akinabayomi] Pulse Nigeria

Abayomi explained that Lagos has not yet reached the peak of the pandemic, adding that the number of cases will continue to rise in the next one or two months.

“We are in the middle of the outbreak and we have not even peaked yet, and so the cases are still rising. We still expect to see a lot more cases in the next one month or two. I would use this platform to remind Lagosians that we have not yet peaked and Lagos is still going through the active community transmission of COVID-19.

“I think what may be giving you a false sense of security or confidence is that we say most people have mild to moderate disease. While that may be so, between three and five per cent of Lagosians that catch this infection have an extremely severe to a critical form of COVID-19 and the risk of dying in that percentage is extremely high”, he said.

Abayomi also appealed to Lagosians to keep practicing social distancing and other measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus in the country.

While urging people with underlying medical conditions to stay safe, Abayomi said the state government is not prepared to lose about 250,000 residents of the state to the pandemic

“Two to five per cent may seem like a small percentage, but even one per cent of 25 million people is a lot of Lagosians. We are not prepared to lose 250,000 Lagosians and we certainly will not even like to contemplate that number.

“So I appeal to Lagosians, particularly people who we believe are in the vulnerable category; anybody over the age of 50 or 55 with underlying medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity or any other medical condition that interferes with their immune system, they are extremely vulnerable to COVID-19.

“And the young people may be going out there with mild to moderate disease but they certainly go home in the evening and expose their parents and grandparents to the vulnerabilities.

“So I appeal to Lagosians, keep practicing the social distancing measures and I hope these practices will help to flatten the curve and protect certain vulnerable members of the community.”

Meanwhile, in its bid to ramp up coronavirus testing in the state, the Lagos State Government has approved seven private laboratories as coronavirus testing centres.