COVID-19: Nigerian govt clears air on another total lockdown from next week

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has told Nigerians to ignore rumours of fresh lockdown alert in circulation on social media.

PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, said this in a short video released on Thursday.

The rumour started following the emergence of a purported WhatsApp message from a member of the PTF, which claimed there will be a total lockdown in Nigeria from next week.

But Aliyu has now insisted that the federal government was aware of the economic implication of a fresh lockdown.

He said, “We are aware of a fake message on WhatsApp that we’ve declared a lockdown in the country. This is absolutely not true. I call on the Nigerian public to please ignore this message and continue with normal activities.

“I’m also calling on the public to abide by the non-pharmaceutical interventions including wearing of face masks in the public, washing of hands and maintaining physical distancing.