Dear Lagosians,
1. I would like to start by publicly expressing my condolences to the families of those who have lost loved ones in recent times to reckless and avoidable road accidents involving trailers and containers; as well as accidents on our waterways. The wheel of the law will take its course and all those responsible for these senseless deaths will be brought to justice.
2. It has now been five months since the first case of Coronavirus was recorded in Nigeria. Since then Nigeria has seen more than 43,000
infections, and a significant disruption of social, religious, educational and economic life, like every other part of the world.
3.As at yesterday, Friday July 31, 2020, Lagos
State has had a total of 15,150 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 10,835 persons who have recovered and been discharged. We have sadly now lost 194 persons to the virus. This leaves us with 1813 active cases in community and 96 under management across various isolation centers in the State.
4. Lagos State remains the epicenter of the
pandemic in Nigeria, but we also, I am pleased
to say, have set a national example in terms of
the efficiency of our testing, tracing, treatment,
and our partnerships with the private sector and the Federal Government. Most of our patients in Lagos recover under our supervision.
5. We now have two pathways through which
confirmed cases are managed: either through
our Home-Based Strategy, or in designated
COVID Care Centres. Those people in the
Home Care category are being supported
medically with our COVID Care Packs, and
psychologically through our counselling teams
available via our Call Centre 08000CORONA
6. In addition, these individuals are given access to our telemedicine services through the Stateowned EKOTELEMED, and are also visited weekly by our doctors to ensure that they are recovering adequately and in a timely fashion.
7. In terms of our Isolation Centers, we have since, last night, shut down our Eti-Osa Isolation Center and will be shutting down our Agidingbi Isolation Center and moving all the patients there to our soon to be commissioned IndoCenter.
8. Furthermore, our Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba is now also gradually being reverted back to its status as a hospital to cater to all forms of infectious diseases. The Ca-Covid dedicated tent on the IDH grounds will however remain strictly for Covid-19 cases.
9. In June, we further expanded COVID-19 testing capacity in Lagos with the accreditation of seven private laboratories. In the week ending July 26, 2020, we successfully tested close to 9,000 samples in Lagos State, across the public and private sector laboratories, a 50% increase from the approximately 6,000 samples tested in each of the preceding two weeks.
10. We believe that this increase in testing will
lead to an increase in the number of daily
confirmed cases of the Virus in Lagos State.
This is a welcome development, since our
capacity to contain the pandemic depends
significantly on how successful we are in
identifying all the existing cases.
11. I must however also mention that we have
seen a general decrease in positivity rates in
Lagos State over the past two weeks, which,
combined with the increase in testing numbers, paints a very encouraging picture of the outcome of our response strategy. We will
continue to fine-tune our efforts and strategies to build on our successes and close any existing gaps.
12. We are patterning our response strategy after Mumbai, India, which like Lagos is a densely populated mega-city with similar demographic and climatic conditions. I must however say that we are also recording similar results in terms of our successes.
13. Dear Lagosians, having carefully reviewed the current scenario in Lagos State, we have taken some important decisions in line with the ongoing objective of calibrating an effective balance between the competing demands of safeguarding lives and enabling livelihoods.
14. First, we are increasing the permissible
capacity for public gatherings from 20 to 50
persons. This applies to a wide range of events, from AGMs to funerals. Lagosians should please continue to keep in mind that there is documented evidence that mass gatherings can increase the spread of infectious diseases, such as coronavirus. As such, all standard prevention and control measures must be strictly adhered to: physical distancing, mandatory temperature checks and use of masks in public places, regular disinfection of premises, and strong personal hygiene.
15. Places of Worship in Lagos State will be
allowed to open from Friday the 7th of August
for our Muslim worshippers, and Sunday the 9thof August for Christian worshippers, but only at 50% of their capacity. Churches whose main worship days fall on Saturdays, are permitted to hold their services on Saturdays, subject to the same guidelines as churches holding services on Sundays.
16. We must reiterate that Places of Worship are only permitted to have their regular once-a-weekservices on the designated days. For the avoidance of doubt, churches are mosques are not permitted to have other services or fellowships outside of their main weekly services.
17. Places of Worship are allowed to schedule
multiple services, on their designated worship
days, if necessary, as well as also encouraging
as many people as possible to participate using virtual means.
18. In addition, the following conditions must be met and fulfilled by all Religious Centres and Places of Worship that are planning to reopen: a)Only regular services / gatherings are permitted to hold. Night Vigils and other
non-regular programmes remain prohibited
until further notice. b)Attendees over the age of sixty-five (65) years are strongly discouraged from attending worship services c) Consider holding services and gatherings in large, well-ventilated areas or outdoors, as
circumstances and faith traditions allow.
d)“No Facemask, No Entry” policy must be
maintained throughout the duration of the
services. e)Regular cleaning and disinfection of facilities must be carried out to maintain
clean and hygienic environments before
and after every service. f) Appropriate screening equipment for COVID-19 symptoms such as a contactless temperature check must be available for entrants into the facility.
g)It is mandatory to provide hand-washing
facilities and sanitizers at the entry and exit
point of the premises. h)National emergency response phone lines must be displayed prominently on the premises. i) Handshakes, Hugs and “high fives” are not permitted at services or gatherings, and this should be emphasized by displaying appropriate signs prominently. j) The use of stationary collection boxes and electronic methods for collection of offering must be encouraged. k) The flow of human traffic in and out of these places of worship must be conducted in an organized and orderly manner.
19. Restaurants will now be permitted to open
for in-dining services, from the 14th of August, on the proviso that they maintain a 50% occupancy capacity, and have also obtained a Provisional Safety Compliance Certificate through the registration portal of the Lagos State Safety Commission: www.lasgsafetyreg.com.
20. Social Clubs and Recreational Centers
will also now be allowed to open from the 14th of August 2020, on the condition that they have
applied for and obtained a Provisional Safety
Compliance Certificate through the registration portal of the Lagos State Safety Commission:
www.lasgsafetyreg.com. Note that these
Safety Clearance Certificates are at this time
being issued only to Social Clubs with
Registered Trustees.
21. Clubs and Centers that reopen without
complying with these mandatory requirements
will be shut down and dealt with according to the law. Note also that the closure of all Spas, Bars, Lounges, Night Clubs, Cinemas, Games
Arcades remains in place. The possible reopening of these places will be further reviewed before the end of the month.
22. As a State Government we will be ramping up our monitoring and enforcement work, to ensure that all our guidelines and directives are complied with to the letter. The relevant
agencies will be carrying out spot checks and
random inspections of businesses and facilities, and defaulters will be sanctioned appropriately.
23. Regarding our schools, Secondary Schools
in Lagos will reopen, as earlier communicated
by the Ministry of Education, from August 3rd,
for Exit Classes only – i.e. SS3 and Technical
Studies TEC3 students only. This will allow them two weeks to participate in revision classes and examinations in preparation for the forthcoming West African Examinations (WAEC), which will start on August 17, 2020.
24. All standard precautions must be put in place by school authorities: handwashing facilities, physical distancing, the use of face masks, and so on. Officials of the Lagos State Government will be inspecting all qualifying schools to ensure that these requirements are fully met. The Lagos State Government will make face masks available to all schools to which this reopening exemption applies, for the duration of the reopening.
25. As I mentioned before, all civil servants in the state’s unified public service system are to maintain status quo in line with the prevailing
guidelines issued by the Head of Service and
comply with the roster selections per MDA.
Those officers working from home at this time,
are to continue to avail themselves with the use of the online Learning Management (LMS)
platforms.
26. As I mentioned in the last address, people
need to start taking responsibility for themselves and their loved ones. Self-regulation is the order of the day, and you should not wait for the government to regulate you or your conduct, even though we will be doing so, you must ensure as matter of responsibility, that you are self-regulating yourself in the interests of yourself and loved ones.
27. I would also like to use this opportunity to
again appeal to our people to avoid nonessential movement and try to remain indoors, more so now with the partial closure of the third mainland bridge and the attendant issues that come with such a major infrastructural rehabilitation.
28. We will continue to keep you informed and
updated on the decisions that are taken for the
public health and safety of all of us. As stated
before, managing this pandemic requires careful balancing of health and economic
considerations, and we will pursue this
balancing with a great sense of responsibility.
29. I would like to end by thanking all our frontline health workers, and non-medical personnel –drivers, cleaners, attendants – for your continuing sacrifice and courage in the face of one of the worst pandemics the world has ever seen. I also thank the private sector for all their support and cooperation, helping us raise our capacity to test and treat patients.
30. Our gratitude also goes to our Monitoring and Compliance Teams at the State and Local
Government levels for their efforts so far, and charge them to not relent in the quest to ensure full compliance. I equally thank all of our security agencies – the Police; the Military; the Department of State Security and the Civil
Defence Corps and others – for working hard to
help maintain law and order and enforce our
various directives.
31. As I close, let me use this opportunity to
celebrate all of the people of Lagos who are
taking advantage of the opportunities thrown up by the pandemic to invest and innovate for the good of the entire society.
32. A few days ago, I was privileged to
commission the first certified facility in Nigeria
for the manufacture of medical-grade face
masks. An enterprising Nigerian company,
based here in Lagos, saw an opportunity in this
space, and decided to invest. They have now
completed a state-of-the-art factory that can
produce 240,000 medical masks daily.
33. This is yet another example of the
industrious and entrepreneurial energy of
Lagos. There are many stories like this around
us; I salute all of you, and assure that we will
continue to recognize and support you.
34. I thank you all for listening.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Governor of Lagos State
1st August, 2020.
