COVID-19: PTF Reveals What Will Determine Fresh Lockdown

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 says the attitude of Nigerians will determine the imposition of a fresh lockdown amid the second wave of the pandemic.

Recall that in March 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari imposed a locked down on the FCT, 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.

But speaking on a television programme on Tuesday, PTF National Coordinator, Sani Aliyu, said Nigerians need to adhere to COVID-19 protocols not to risk another lockdown.

He noted that the task force has not decided on a fresh lockdown but public attitude will determine its next line of action.

Aliyu said, “A lockdown is not going to be decided by the PTF but it is going to be decided by the behaviour of the public when it comes to these rules. We have countries abroad that have very strict non-pharmaceutical intervention measures and everybody follows it. The flights are coming in, schools are open, churches are open and they don’t have Covid problem because everybody observes the rules.

“We definitely don’t want a lockdown and because we don’t want to lockdown, we need to make sure we do everything we can to prevent ourselves from reaching that state where the government will have to take action.”