Following the failure of the first day of the ease of lockdown, which saw the breaking of social distancing rules in Lagos and Abuja, the NCDC has warned that if there was an explosion in the incidence of new COVID19 cases, there would be no other option than to lock the nation down again.
The warning came from the Director-General, NCDC, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Monday, speaking at the daily briefing the Presidential Task Force on COVID19 in Abuja, while expressing displeasure at the disregard for social distancing directives by Nigerians in Lagos and Abuja on the first day of lockdown easing.
He predicted that from Monday’s debacle there was bound to be a surge of new cases and urged citizens to observe social distancing directives to stem the spread of the COVID19 virus.
The DG’s comments came before the NCDC announcement of the daily COVID19 nationwide figures on its official Twitter handle @NCDCgov late Monday.
Lagos topped the list of new cases with 76 Lagos while Katsina witnessed a surge with 37.
Other new case figures were Katsina 32, Jigawa 23, Kano 19, FCT 18, Borno 10, Edo nine, Bauchi six, Adamawa five, Oyo five, Ogun one, Ekiti one, Osun one, Benue one, Niger one, and Zamfara one.
There are now 2802 confirmed cases of COVID19 in Nigeria, 1182 of which are from Lagos; 417 have been discharged while there have been 93 deaths.
In another development, the NCDC announced in a tweet that it was working with the Lagos State Ministry of Health (LSMOH), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners in the operationalisation of sample collection sites in Local Governments, for COVID19 diagnosis.
The agency said this was part of its strategy to ensure cases were detected early.
LSMOH earlier Monday announced that 14 more COVID19 patients; six females and eight males, all Nigerians, had been discharged from its isolation facilities at Yaba, Onikan, LUTH & Eti-Osa (Landmark) to reunite with the society.
