Nigeria has extended its COVID-19 lockdown for a further two weeks in the capital Abuja and Lagos, the commercial hub, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has announced.
In a presidential broadcast late Monday, the second since the pandemic hit the most populous African nation, Buhari also extended the cessation of movements and activities in Ogun, the industrial hub in the southwest region of Nigeria, for the same period.
"We made this very difficult decision knowing full well it will severely disrupt your livelihoods and bring undue hardship to you, your loved ones and your communities," the President said.
According to him, such sacrifices are needed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the country. "They were necessary to save lives," he said.
Nigeria had earlier locked down its main cities, Abuja and Lagos, as part of the measures to curb the spread since March 30 when its leader announced the order for an initial two-week period.
Its airports for foreign and domestic flights were also shut down, as well as railway services across the country.
Buhari said in his broadcast on Monday that the government's objective was, and still remained, to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for "an aggressive and collective action."
The Nigerian leader said the level of compliance to the COVID-19 guidelines issued has been generally good across the country and hailed the citizens for what he described as "the great sacrifice" made for each other at this critical time.
The 14 days of initial lockdown for the government, he said, came with overwhelming support and cooperation.
"We implemented comprehensive public health measures that intensified our case identification, testing, isolation and contact tracing capabilities," the President said, declaring that to date, health officials in the country had identified 92 percent of all identified contacts while doubling the number of testing laboratories and raising the testing capacity to 1,500 tests per day.
As of Monday, the country had a record of 323 COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths.
