The Director of the VIS Lagos, Engr. Akin George Fashola, who disclosed this while speaking with journalists in his office, stated that Lagos State cannot avoid to be lockdown for a second time.

Engr. Fashola, while stressing the need for drivers and commuters to abide by all safety measures, stated that this is one of the ways the country and Lagos State especially can battle the deadly COVID-19 virus effectively.

Recall that the initiative stopped its operations following the End SARS protest.

“We can defeat this virus seeing that it is better and less costly to obey all the safety guidelines than to lockdown the country.

“We do not want Lagos State to be lockdown for a second time. Therefore, we will begin our second phase of mass enforcement and sensitisation of drivers especially commercial drivers and commuters to ensure the use of facemasks, observe social distance in the vehicles and other safety rules,” she said.

Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, made this appeal at the PTF media briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday.

Expressing displeasure over Nigerians moving about without facemask, Boss Mustapha said that religious leaders and traditional rulers have a lot to do to curb the spread of the disease.

According to him, the best Nigerians can do is to adhere to the non-pharmaceutical interventions which includes wearing face mask, observing social distancing and staying away from large crowd.

“It is sad when people gather and they do not think it is appropriate to wear mask. What we can do is to continue to appeal to our people that COVID-19 is still alive, it has not gone on any vacation.

“People are dying on a daily basis from COVID-19 and as we expect vaccines to show up on the horizon, the only vaccine we have in our hand now let us apply it,” he said.

Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu disclosed this on Monday at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja.

Ihekweazu, who noted that most Nigerians lament that using face masks is stressful, however, said wearing face masks is less cumbersome when compared to being on a ventilator.

“Wearing a mask may seem very cumbersome but I promise you that it is less cumbersome than being on a ventilator.

“Over the last few weeks, many of you may have heard stories of survivors but there are many stories that could have been told that you have not heard, stories of those that have passed away,” he said.

The NCDC boss also advised Nigerians of the need to take responsibility by ensuring safe to ensure that their lives and those of their loved ones are preserved.

While calling on the masses to do their best in protecting each other, Ihekweazu commended frontline health workers for their commitment in the Federal Government’s fight against the coronavirus.

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic involves the efforts of everyone, not just the government alone.

Speaking further, the NCDC boss asked everyone not to throw caution in the wind amid the rising cases of the infection in the country.

Update soon…

Dr. Baqiah Nojimudeen-Yesufu, who is the Doctor in charge of Ajibulu Sample Collection Centre, Oshodi, Lagos, disclosed this in an interview with DAILY POST.

She explained that wearing gloves is not advisable as it gives the public confidence to touch many things which are not supposed to be touched.

Although, she informed that there has been about 70 per cent level of compliance by the residents with the mandatory usage of face mask, especially since the lockdown was eased, she emphasized that significant caution must be shown while putting on the mask in order to avoid contracting the virus unknowingly.

“Since the lockdown ease commenced, people have been complying with the use of face masks and I can say the compliance is about 70 per cent. However, we should be careful about self-contamination because sometimes we wear the mask and use it wrongly. Even if you have washed it, you still have to be careful not to touch the outer part and the inner part where your nose and your mouth stay because you can self-contaminate yourself.”

She explained further that, ”If you wear one for a whole day, it is best to wash it at the end of the day. You wash and iron. It is advisable that you have, at least, one per day so you can always interchange, to use one for each day. It is important we do not merely stop at washing them, we need to iron them, as well, if there is any left over bacterial infection on the face mask, the heat can also help to kill any bacterial or virus after washing.

“For those who are using the disposable mask, it should be thrown away after every usage; meaning if you have the mask on for a whole day and you have to remove it for any reason; you are removing and discarding to wear a new one in order to avoid self-contamination.”

She stated that face mask is best used when in the company of more than one person and to be complemented with social distancing, warning that the best way to limit the risk of contamination is to stay indoors and avoid social engagement.

She said: “It is advisable if we can actually stay and work from home. If possible, let us make use of that avenue because the rate of community transmission is alarming. And the number of people that are already available for testing makes it difficult to actually get test results on time.

“The best thing for us to do is to stay safe, even if the government has said we can go out, we should weigh the risk.”

She added that it is not advisable to wear gloves “because if people wear gloves they have the tendency and confidence to touch many things as much as possible, and in doing that, they can infect so many other people with their gloves.

“It is always advisable that we wash our hands from time to time. Wearing of hand gloves by non-professionals actually increases the risk of contamination than reducing it because you might be protecting your own hands but it is at the detriment of others who are not wearing hand gloves and in that manner, you are increasing the risk of infection. It is best to always wash your hands and use the sanitizer at all times.”