Millions of Nigerians enter lockdown as Africa tries to halt virus
LAGOS: More than 20 million Nigerians on Monday went into lockdown in sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest city Lagos and the capital Abuja, as the continent struggles to curb the spread of coronavirus.
President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a two-week “cessation of all movements” in key cities to ward off an explosion of cases in Africa’s most populous country.
Businesses are being closed, non-food shops shut and people required to stay at home as officials look to track down possible carriers of the disease after reporting 131 confirmed cases and two deaths so far.
Enforcing the restrictions in sprawling Lagos will be a mammoth challenge as millions live crammed into slums and rely on daily earnings to survive.
In the ramshackle outdoor markets of Lagos Island, anxious locals complained they did not have the money to stock up, while at higherend supermarkets betteroff residents queued to buy supplies.
“Two weeks is too long. I don’t know how we will cope,” said student Abdul Rahim, 25, as he helped his sister sell foodstuffs from a stall in Jankarra market. “People are hungry and they won’t be able to stock food.”
City officials have pledged to provide basic provisions to 200,000 households but the central government in Africa’s largest oil producing nation is already facing financial strain as the price of crude has collapsed.
The streets of Ghana’s capital Accra were also empty as most people in two regions appeared to be following a presidential order to stay indoors after it went into force.
Dozens of African nations have imposed restrictions ranging from night-time curfews to total shutdowns.