The Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 control has ruled out the possibility of enforcing precision lockdown in 11 “high-burden” local government areas, where Coronavirus is prevalent across the country.
Seven of these councils are in Lagos – which is the epicenter of the virus in the country – with others in Kano, Bayelsa and two others in unnamed states.
National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 Control Dr. Sani Aliyu said at a briefing in Abuja on Monday that closing down those local government councils will be akin to closing down the states.
His words, “We have 11 high-burden local government areas we’ve identified, we are doing a lot of works in these local government areas, especially as it relates to risk communication and community engagement activities.
His words, “We are also trying to improve testing, particularly in Lagos where seven of the 11 local governments are; we are improving case management, discussing with the various states in terms of improving access to care, access to oxygen and so on.
“For instance, if we were to lockdown those local government areas in Lagos, we’ll have to lockdown the entire state. States like Bayelsa, where in Yenagoa, which is the local government with the a high-burden, if we lock Yenagoa down, virtually all the roads across the state have to go through this local government.
“Technically it will be very difficult, we know if the interventions that we proposed are being implemented and people are cooperating, you don’t actually need to lock people down at all”, he said.
