– President Muhammadu Buhari has extended COVID-19 lockdown by two weeks – The president made this known on Monday, April 13, during his live broadcast to Nigerians on COVID-19 – Buhari said that his objective is to contain the spread of the coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for aggressive and collective action President Muhammadu Buhari on the evening of Monday, April 13, extended the coronavirus lockdown by two weeks to prevent the spread of the disease.
reports the president made some vital points in his live broadcast, adding that he had no choice but to make the hard decision to extend the lockdown to save the lives of Nigerians. The points include: 1. As your democratically elected leaders, we made this very difficult decision knowing fully well it will severely disrupt your livelihoods and bring undue hardship to you, your loved ones and your communities.
2. However, such sacrifices are needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our country. They were necessary to save lives. 3. Our objective was and still remains, to contain the spread of the Coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for aggressive and collective action. 4. Our objective was and still remains, to contain the spread of the Coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for aggressive and collective action.
5. The level of compliance to the COVID-19 guidelines issued has been generally good across the country. I wish to thank you all most sincerely for the great sacrifice you are making for each other at this critical time. 6. I will take this opportunity to recognise the massive support from our traditional rulers, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) during this pandemic.
President Muhammadu Buhari Source: UGC 7. I also acknowledge the support and contributions received from public-spirited individuals, the business community and our international partners and friends.
8. I must also thank the media houses, celebrities and other public figures for the great work they are doing in sensitizing our citizens on hygienic practices, social distancing and issues associated with social gatherings. 9. As a result of the overwhelming support and cooperation received, we were able to achieve a lot during these 14 days of initial lockdown. 10. We implemented comprehensive public health measures that intensified our case identification, testing, isolation and contact tracing capabilities.
11. To date, we have identified 92% of all identified contacts while doubling the number of testing laboratories in the country and raising our testing capacity to 1,500 tests per day. 12. We also trained over 7,000 Healthcare workers on infection prevention and control while deploying NCDC teams to 19 states of the federation.
13. Lagos and Abuja today have the capacity to admit some 1,000 patients each across several treatment centres.
14. Many state governments have also made provisions for isolation wards and treatment centres. We will also build similar centers near our airports and land borders. 15. Using our resources and those provided through donations, we will adequately equip and man these centres in the coming weeks. Already, health care workers across all the treatment centers have been provided with the personal protective equipment that they need to safely carry out the care they provide.
It was reported that this was contained in the president’s address to the nation on Monday, April 13.
