The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed the first coronavirus disease (COVID-19) case in Lagos State, Nigeria on the 27th of February 2020. This was the first case to be reported in Nigeria since the beginning of the outbreak in China in January 2020. Since then, various measures have been taken by the government and other bodies to curtail the spread of the diseases. These measures such as increased sensitisation on hand and respiratory hygiene, temperature checks at the point of entries, emphasis on social distancing among others were gradually seen to get more enforced as cases of the disease were increasingly imported into the country by returning travellers.

To curtail the increasing spread of the virus in Nigeria (from a few tenths to over a hundred), Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday the 29th of March announced a lockdown of major cities worst hit by the novel coronavirus. Key measures that accompany the lockdown include a ban on social and economic activities and gatherings of people in the capital Abuja, the commercial hub Lagos, Ogun state and surrounding cities. These measures are in place to enforce SOCIAL DISTANCING to slow and ultimately halt the spread of the virus.

In the article below, Nigeria Health Watch writes about isolation and social distancing; their meanings, how to ensure them and the gains of maintaining the measures during this pandemic:

The coronavirus pandemic is a crisis and the world is seeing the number of people affected increasing rapidly every day. To control the spread of the virus, several measures have been implemented in different countries. ‘Social distancing’ and ‘self-isolation’ are phrases you might have heard more of recently and are two critical interventions being put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus. These measures slow the spread of the virus, and when appropriately practised, can slow the rate of infection in a town, community or even the entire country…

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