The Lagos State Government has announced the closure of all public and private schools from Monday, 23rd March 2020, as part of preventive measures against the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. READ ALSO: World Bank Approves $14 Billion To Arrest Spread Of Coronavirus
The move, according to the government became necessary to prevent school children and their teachers from being more vulnerable to the killer virus which has claimed several lives around the world and spreading fast.
Nigeria has so far recorded 8 cases of the virus with a 27-year-old American national reportedly dead in Ekiti State.
The Commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo, in a statement, said: “It is important for parents to ensure that their children practise ‘social distancing’ while at home, wash their hands regularly or use hand sanitisers 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.”
The commissioner added: “the Incident Command Centre, headed by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu would 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.”
Similarly, the Ogun State Government led by Governor Dapo Abiodun has revealed that the ban on high-density gatherings affects all religious activities in the State, as well as schools, whether public or private-owned.
Consequently, all schools in the State will remain closed indefinitely after school hours on Friday, March, 20th, 2020.
Stressing the need for a healthy and safe society, the government stated that religious centres and activities including regular and special services that bring together fifty or more persons in the same place are banned with immediate effect.
The government also disclosed that measures will be reviewed at regular intervals in response to the development surrounding the pandemic.
It, therefore, called on parents and guardians whose children and wards are in boarding facility within the State to immediately evacuate them and ensure they return to their respective homes at the close of schools on Friday, March 20th, 2020.
The government stressed the need to observe the practice of social distancing as a way of curbing the spread of the pandemic and recommends that people should minimize contact with others and maintain a distance of at least five feet between one another in public places or in public transportation.
The Governor further encouraged residents of the state to maintain a high level of personal hygiene and surveillance, while adding that suspected cases should be reported at the nearest Primary Healthcare Centre in all the 236 wards in the State or the Emergency Operations Centre on COVID-19 by telephone on 08188978393 or 08188978392.
