FG extends ‘gradual ease of lockdown’ by two weeks

The eased lockdown directive issued by President Muhammadu Buhari has been extended till June 1.

Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, made the announcement during the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing on Monday.

Mustapha said the president took the decision based on the recommendations of the PTF, and the guidelines issued for relaxing the lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and the federal capital territory (FCT) will be maintained for the next two weeks, after which there will be another review.

He listed six steps approved by Buhari as follows:

“The measures, exemptions, advisories and scope of entities allowed to reopen under phase one of the eased locked down, shall be maintained across the federation for another two weeks effective from 12 00 midnight today (18th May, 2020 to 1st June, 2020).

“Intensifying efforts to “tell (communicate), trace (identify) and treat (manage)’ cases;

“Elevating the level of community ownership of non-pharmaceutical interventions;

“Maintain the existing lockdown order in Kano for an additional two weeks;

“​Imposition of precision lockdown in states, or in metropolitan/high-burden LGAs, that are reporting a rapidly increasing number of cases, when the need arises. This would be complemented with the provision of palliatives and continued re-evaluation of the impact of the interventions; and

“Aggressive scale up of efforts to ensure that communities are informed, engaged and participating in the response with enhanced public awareness in high risk states.”