COVID-19: FG returns curfew, restricts mass gatherings

The Federal government has reinstituted a nationwide 12am to 4am curfew as part of efforts to curtail further spread of COVID-19.

The National Incident Manager, Mukhtar Mohammed, disclosed this at a press briefing of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 in Abuja.

Mohammed said the curfew would take effect from midnight on Monday, May 10.

He also said with effect from Tuesday, night clubs, gyms, and others would remain closed till further notice.

He said gatherings of religious groups and weddings among others have been reduced to 50 percent attendance, while official engagements, meetings, and conferences should continue to hold virtually.

He said event centres and night clubs are also to remain closed while curfew has also been reinstated from midnight to 4am.

Security personnel are to monitor and enforce adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions on public transport including wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing. 

The Chairman of PSC and Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said in his remark at the briefing that government has continued to monitor and focus with concern on the unprecedented rising cases of infection and fatalities caused by variants of concern in a number of jurisdictions around the world. 

He said the PSC has also continued to rely on data, science and experiences around the world to establish the basis for steps to be taken to strengthen the National Response programme.

Mustapha added: “Since the last national briefing on 26th April, 2021 the PSC has also received the expression of genuine concerns by experts, international organisations, the Africa CDC, Nigerians and other friendly nations over these developments. 

“It has also, on the merit, assessed the situation in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the USA with a view to preventing importation of the variants of concern.

“The surge and virulence of the variants of concern has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of persons in India and a number of countries and has unfortunately disrupted the production of and global delivery programmes for vaccines. 

“These developments clearly underscore the fact that indeed, no one can be safe until everyone is safe.”

Mustapha affirmed that the PSC considered several pre-emptive measures to be taken to mitigate the likely impact of the variants of concern, should they get imported into Nigeria. 

He further said: “This step has become compelling in view of the fragile state of our health systems, the disruption to the vaccines delivery and the lack of compliance with the extant public health measures and social measures contained in the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Health Protection Regulations 2021.

“The PSC has therefore considered it imperative to re-institute the various public health measures that were put in place under the health Protection Regulations.

“In taking this step, the PSC requests the State Governments to please step up to play lead roles in the area of enforcement and sanctions.”

He appealed to traditional, religious and community leaders to take up more ownership and responsibility for risk communication and community engagement on the virulent nature of the pandemic, concerns over the variants of concern and the need for compliance.  

The SGF recalled that the PSC has already issued a Travel Advisory which, he said, took into consideration, the utility of travel restrictions, outcomes of epidemiological risk assessment, factors that aid transmission as well as control measures that could be deployed. 

He noted that in the Advisory, additional requirements were placed on passengers from India, Turkey and Brazil.  

Mustapha regretted that there have been reports of some returning foreign passengers who violated the mandatory quarantine requirement under the advisory by escaping from the facilities. 

“We deprecate such violation of the laws of our land and our hospitality. The PSC is awaiting the report of on-going investigations and we wish to assure Nigerians that appropriate sanctions would be imposed on the violators,” he assured.