LAGOS
Lagos state has been the epicentre of coronavirus in Nigeria, with the most number of cases in the country, including the reported index case. It then begs the question if the state truly is ready for easing of the lockdown.
On 27th February, Nigeria confirmed an Italian, its first case in Lagos State. This Italian citizen works in Nigeria and returned on 25th February from Milan, Italy through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. He fell ill on 26th February and was transferred to the Lagos State facilities for isolation and testing.
This index case was the first that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control got a hold of, but he was not the only case to had come in from outside the country with the virus. Other cases who had recent travel history, and even earlier than the Italian were later found out, and these people had been carrying about their daily lives as usual in the state.
It is known and quite frightening that the virus can be in a host and the host stays completely asymptomatic and healthy, at the same time spreading the virus very efficiently. This method of spread, coupled with the fact that Lagos state is one of the busiest cities in Africa, makes it for a perfect breeding ground for the spread of a highly contagious virus such as the COVID-19.
The country did not issue any travel ban from countries with cases up until the 18th March, when it announced that the government was restricting travellers from only countries with over 1,000 cases. These were China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, United States of America, Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands & Switzerland. Same 18th March, five new cases were announced, all of which had a travel history from the UK and USA.
As of this report, there were still flights coming into the country with the definition of the ban, meaning countries with 900 cases could even travel into the country. There was no isolation or testing team at the borders, and movement in the state was still very free. On the 21st March, the NCDC reported ten new cases, 7 of which were from Lagos state, of those 10 cases, 9 had recent travel history outside the country. It was then that the government, through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority announced a restriction of all international flights into the country.
The first death due to COVID-19 in the country was recorded on the 23rd March, and by this time Lagos had reported a total of 25 cases. By 27th March, exactly a month after the index case in Nigeria and Lagos was published, the country had confirmed 70 cases, with Lagos having 44 of those cases.
The president addressed the nation on the ongoing pandemic in the country for the first time on 29th March, after over a month of the report of the first case, the same day the confirmed cases in the country surpassed 100, announcing a lockdown on Lagos, Abuja and Ogun state.
The guidelines that are advised for the reopening of a state hinge on the steady decline in the number of confirmed cases being reported daily in that state for a sustained period of 7 days, and this has not been the case with Lagos, on the contrary, there has been a significant rise, with Lagos announcing an increase of 74,78,80,33,43,34,80 in the last seven days to go from 430 to 844, almost doubling the total cases. It is evident that the state is not in decline, but instead increasing drastically and any measures to reopen should be put into serious considerations by the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Lagos cannot afford to overwhelm the country’s healthcare system, the population in Lagos makes it impossible for the state to adhere to the guidelines issued out by the NCDC, with social distancing a big worry for a city as congested as Lagos.
