This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
On May 18, the Nigerian government extended the gradual easing of the lockdown by two weeks as a measure to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
The decision was announced by Boss Mustapha, secretary to the Nigerian government, who stated that despite modest progress, Nigeria is still not ready for a full reopening of its economy.
"The measures, exemptions, advisories, and scope of entities allowed to reopen under phase one of the eased lockdown shall be maintained across the federation for another two weeks effective from midnight," Mustapha told the media in Abuja.
The government aims to intensify efforts to test, trace, and treat cases, as well as elevate the level of community ownership of non-pharmaceutical interventions.
As of Monday, the total number of Covid-19 cases in Nigeria stood at 5,959, with 182 deaths and 1,594 recoveries.
Despite these figures, Mustapha said the transmission of the virus has been consistently under control, and the measures put in place have collectively slowed down the transmission of the virus in Nigeria.
"The healthcare system has been better equipped to detect, test, isolate and treat every case, and trace every person who came into contact with a positive case with the increase in the number of laboratories from 15 to 26; ramping up of testing to a cumulative total of 35,098," he added.
