22nd March, 2020
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has ordered civil servants to stay at home for 14 days as part of the measures to curtail the spread of the Coronavirus.
The governor stated this on Sunday after six new cases of coronavirus were found in the state.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, six new coronavirus cases were diagnosed in Lagos on Sunday, bringing the total to 24, four in Abuja, one in Oyo and one in Ekiti.
“Three new cases of #COVID19 have been confirmed in Lagos, Nigeria 2 cases are returning travellers and 1 is a contact of a confirmed case. As at 05:28 pm on the 22nd of March, there are 30 confirmed cases of #COVID19 in Nigeria. 2 have been discharged with no deaths”, NCDC stated.
According to the governor, the stay-at-home directive applied to workers on grade level one to 12.
“We are shutting down almost 70 percent of our workforce from Monday, 23rd of March 2020. We are shutting down levels 1-12 in our public service for the next 14 days,” he said.
“We know the enormity of the task at hand, and we are ready for it. We are working with market leaders and even public transport unions to ensure social distancing.
“Self-Isolate for at least 14 days if you are just returning to from abroad. That would be the right thing to do.
“We must always rise to our challenges. We will win with the cooperation of Lagos residents. We have done this before, we will do it again.”
He, however, exempted “those providing essential services”.
The governor also said more isolation centres have been created in the state.