Abuja
– Nigeria will start easing a coronavirus lockdown covering its largest city
Lagos and capital Abuja from 4 May, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday.
“I have approved a phased
and gradual easing of lockdown measures,” Buhari said in a televised
broadcast.
He unveiled new measures
including a nationwide night-time curfew, mandatory wearing of face masks and a
ban on “non-essential” travel between different regions.
He also announced an immediate
two-week lockdown in northern Nigeria’s largest city Kano after officials said
they were probing a spate of “mysterious deaths”.
More than 25 million residents in
Abuja, Lagos and neighbouring Ogun state have been under federal lockdown since
30 March and other states have introduced their own restrictions.
The government faces a difficult
balancing act trying to curb the spread of the virus and contain growing the
desperation of vast numbers living hand-to-mouth in Africa’s most populous
country.
Appeal for testing kits
“Such lockdowns have also
come at a very heavy economic cost,” Buhari said in the address. “Many
of our citizens have lost their means of livelihood. Many businesses have shut
down.”
He said the new measures were “implementable policies that will ensure our economy continues to function
while still maintaining our aggressive response to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Nigeria, with a population of 200
million, has reported 1 273 confirmed infections, including 40 deaths. But
testing has been limited and the head of the disease control agency has put out
an appeal for kits.
Buhari said officials were
looking to bolster the rate of testing by accrediting private laboratories.
He announced the federal
government would deploy “all the necessary human, material and technical
resources” to support Kano state in controlling the pandemic.
The state’s governor on Monday
said officials were investigating a spike in “mysterious deaths”, but
insisted initial indications suggested they were not linked to coronavirus.
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