SGF: With Increased Capacity, FG Targets 2 Million Testing by June

•Says another lockdown isn’t on the cards

•Mulls isolated restrictions in troubled areas

Mustapha said contrary to insinuations doing the rounds about another lockdown, the federal government was only contemplating “isolated lockdowns” in troubled parts of the country.

Speaking on measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Mustapha flatly dismissed the possibility of another nationwide lockdown. He said the idea was no longer expedient in view of some of the latest developments. But he said some cluster areas in certain parts of the country would be closely monitored for possible intervention as might be deemed necessary and advised by experts.

Further addressing the swirling speculations that another lockdown might be imminent given the general state of response to the pandemic, Mustapha said such a decision was not on the cards yet, especially given that enforcement had not been as impressive as envisaged in the overall plan against the spread of the virus.

He was, however, sure there might be isolated lockdowns in some parts of the country, which might not affect the entire states in question but the affected portions of the states for ease of administration, enforcement and monitoring. This, he said, would be worked out with the states in question with a view to ensuring that the rest of the country was not put at risk, citing the federal government’s intervention in Kano State as an example of how the isolated lockdown as well as the involvement of the federal government might look.

He noted that the federal government was closely monitoring the situation reports across the country to be able to ascertain when and where to come in, mentioning specifically the climbing numbers in Lagos, which he said was being religiously monitored.