Lagos State Shuts Down All Private and Public Schools Over Coronavirus
The Lagos State Government says it recognises it holds a strategic position as a force of commerce and travel, and will, therefore, not take chances with the ongoing threat of the global health pandemic brought by novel Coronavirus, COVID-19. In light of that, the state government has now ordered that all public and private schools in the state be shut from Monday, March 23, 2020.
The decision was taken as part of the preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus. According to a statement posted on the official twitter page of Lagos State Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, he said,
“the move becomes necessary to prevent our children and their teachers from getting more vulnerable to the pandemic”
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Eight coronavirus cases have been detected in Nigeria, majority of them in people who arrived Nigeria via Lagos. Lagos is also Nigeria’s main treatment centre for the disease.
“The Incident Command Centre, headed by the Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who is the Incident Commander, will continue to trace all contacts of the identified cases and encourage anyone who has information about suspected cases to report to the nearest hospital or call the emergency telephone numbers 08023169485, 08033565529, 08052817243 and 08023401214.
It is important for parents to ensure that their children practise ‘social distancing’ while at home, wash their hands regularly or use hand sanitizers and observe high standards of personal hygiene. Children should be encouraged to remain at home”
“The closure is not intended to create panic but to arrest the spread of the disease, which has become a global threat,”
Mr Omotosho added.
In similar vein, governors of the nine Northwest states in Nigeria, on Wednesday ordered the closure of schools in the seven States in the region. No case of Coronavirus has been detected in the Northwest but the governors took the decision as a precautionary measure.