Some of the most striking imagery of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak have been photos of empty streets and tourist hotspots in the world’s biggest cities.
As part of attempts to limit the spread of Covid-19, governments have instituted lock-down measures and banned public gatherings. Lagos, Africa’s largest city with 21 million people, is attempting to do the same. With 11 confirmed cases, by far the most in Nigeria, the state government has asked schools to shut down and banned public gatherings of more than 50 people, particularly religious congregations.
In the event of more cases, tougher measures will likely follow. Given Lagos’ standing as Nigeria’s economic nerve center, the threat of a highly contagious viral outbreak in a state where 20 million people are squeezed into land mass that’s about the size of Indianapolis (population: 870,000), is grim.
But shutting down Lagos on any scale will likely be an uphill task for the government.
The city is defined by non-stop activity and a hustle and bustle spirit that perennially draws thousands of Nigerians from other states in search of better economic opportunities. It’s a city of ingenuity and chutzpah which most people need to be able to survive in an overwhelmed urban system. This means Lagos is often defined by lawlessness as people seek solutions for their daily life.
For example, it’s not an uncommon to see Lagosians drive on the wrong side of the road to beat the city’s notorious traffic jams. Neither is having roads blocked by tents for parties with hundreds of partygoers. Rather than being seen as breaking the law, in Lagos, these are thought of as being smart.
One long-standing government policy illustrates this point. For more than two decades, Thursday mornings have been set aside for “environmental” clean-ups. But for the last five years at least, the policy has existed only on paper and is now being enforced sparingly by rent-seeking government officials who punish shop owners for opening for businesses before the prescribed 10 am mark.
Beyond cultural and behavioral nuances, the government will also be up against the might of religion—Nigeria’s Christian population is the largest in Africa and is projected to double by 2060. Lagos itself is home to some of the countries most well-attended mega-churches with hundreds of branches that welcome millions in congregation every Sunday.
As such, attempting to enforce a ban on religious gatherings likely puts the state government at odds with powerful religious leaders whose co-operation is fundamental given their influence. Yet, there are already signs of potential conflict between the government and influential clergymen: the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) says a ban on religious gatherings is not necessary. “We believe we will never get to the point of having to ban all services and churches will be grounded,” CAN’s Lagos chairman has said.
These issues will also apply to Lagos’ vast Muslim population (Nigeria has the fifth largest Muslim population globally) when it comes to attending large mosques for customary prayer services on Friday.
One way governments across the globe have ensured that lockdowns are effective has been to assuage the effects of lost income on citizens with social benefits like suspending particular taxes and bills as well as offering cash payments. But even those measures are unlikely to work in Lagos.
Inefficient data capturing methods and agencies mean the Lagos government does not really know how many people live in its sprawling city as its suburbs keep growing out into neighboring states.
And there’s also the practical matter of being able to afford such palliative measures for 21 million people as recent events suggest otherwise: after a tragic gas explosion in the Lagos suburb of Abule Ado last week, the state government launched a relief fund asking citizens to donate to pay off medical bills and relocation costs of those affected.
By Yomi Kazeem
Quartz
Friday, March 20, 2020
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
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Former Nigeria star John Obi Mikel leaves Trabzonspor over coronavirus fears
The Super Lig team confirmed in a statement that the Nigerian, who joined them last year and had a contract until May 2021, had left by mutual consent.
"There is more to life than football," he wrote on Instagram on Saturday. I do not feel comfortable and don't want to play football in this situation.
"Everyone should be home with their families and loved ones in this critical time. [The] season should be cancelled as the world is facing such turbulent times."
The big five leagues in Europe -- England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France -- as well as the Champions League and Europa League, have all been suspended, but Turkish league games are going ahead without fans present.
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ESPN
Nigeria announces five new cases of coronavirus
THE federal government has announced five new cases of coronavirus disease in the country, in addition to the existing three cases.
With the development, Nigeria now has eight confirmed cases of the disease.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, in an ongoing press conference in Abuja, on the update of the disease in the country, said all the new five cases had a travel history to and from the United Kingdom, UK and the United States of America, USA.
“We urge Nigerians to remain calm as public health response activities are intensified across the country,” he said.
The centre also wrote on Twitter that “A Detailed travel history of each case is being compiled & contact tracing has begun Our National Emergency Operations Centre is supporting response in the states The Federal Government through @Fmohnigeria is conducting risk assessment to initiate other relevant measures “@Fmohnigeria through NCDC will continue to provide accurate updates & take the necessary measures to protect the health of Nigerians We ask that the public refrain from spreading false information while we all engage in proper hand & respiratory hygiene to #PreventCOVID19Spread“
By Joseph Erunke and David Royal
Vanguard
With the development, Nigeria now has eight confirmed cases of the disease.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, in an ongoing press conference in Abuja, on the update of the disease in the country, said all the new five cases had a travel history to and from the United Kingdom, UK and the United States of America, USA.
“We urge Nigerians to remain calm as public health response activities are intensified across the country,” he said.
The centre also wrote on Twitter that “A Detailed travel history of each case is being compiled & contact tracing has begun Our National Emergency Operations Centre is supporting response in the states The Federal Government through @Fmohnigeria is conducting risk assessment to initiate other relevant measures “@Fmohnigeria through NCDC will continue to provide accurate updates & take the necessary measures to protect the health of Nigerians We ask that the public refrain from spreading false information while we all engage in proper hand & respiratory hygiene to #PreventCOVID19Spread“
By Joseph Erunke and David Royal
Vanguard
Nigeria bans entry for travellers from 13 countries as it announces five new cases of coronavirus
Nigeria is restricting entry into the country for travelers from 13 countries including the US and UK, as it announced five new cases Wednesday.
The restriction will apply to travelers from countries with more than 1,000 cases. They include China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the United States, Norway, UK, Netherlands and Switzerland, the country's National Centre for Disease Control said on its Twitter account.
"The Federal Government of Nigeria has also suspended the issuance of visa on arrival to travelers from these countries. All travelers returning from these countries prior to the restriction will be in supervised self-isolation, monitored by the NCDC and Port Health Services," - the tweet read.
The restriction will take effect starting on March 20 and will be in place until further notice.
Health officials also announced an additional five cases of the virus in the country, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to eight. One of them is a recovered patient who came in contact with the index case to Nigeria, an Italian man on a business trip to the country, authorities said.
In an earlier statement on Tuesday, the NCDC said a 30-year-old woman, who came into the country after a short visit to the UK tested positive to coronavirus after she developed symptoms including coughing and a fever on her return.
She had self-isolated in her home when she arrived in the country on March 13 and called the agency when she developed symptoms, the NCDC said, adding that it had begun tracing those who had come in contact with her.
"We expect the number to be small because of her sensible decision to go into self-isolation from the time of her arrival," the statement read.
Africa shutting its doors
Nigeria joins other African countries that are shutting their airports and land borders to keep out people from countries that have a high number of coronavirus cases.
Tunisia on Monday suspended all international flights and closed the country's land borders in an attempt to contain the outbreak. It also banned gathering in markets and other places and introduced a nighttime curfew from 6 p.m to 6 a.m from Wednesday.
Sudan also sealed off all sea ports, land crossings and airports, a spokesman for Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council, Mohamed Al-Faki Suleiman, said in a press statement.
Hundreds of international flights have been canceled, schools have closed and travelers from coronavirus-hit countries have been restricted or, in some cases, banned from visiting some countries in Africa.
Egypt, with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Africa, announced it was suspending flights from all its airports starting Thursday to stop the spread of the virus, Ahram Online reported.
Some countries such as Djibouti are yet to record a single case, but it has suspended all international flights to the country, the US Embassy in Djibouti said in a statement.
There is widespread support on the continent for governments to impose travel bans. One Twitter user noted that Western countries would have acted swiftly to place travel sanctions on travelers if the outbreak originated in Africa.
"I hope African countries close up their borders to all these majorly affected countries because we all know the west would ban travel had Coronavirus started in Africa," they said.
Advice against restrictions
The travel bans and restrictions goes against the advice of the WHO, which has urged countries to not apply blind travel restrictions in a way that would impact trade and travel.
WHO Africa's Dr. Mary Stephen told CNN that many African countries, which were initially screening passengers from countries with outbreaks and also placing travelers from virus-hit countries on quarantine, may now be making travel ban decisions based on panic.
"The outbreak is evolving. It used to be China and now it is Italy and other countries are following after it. So we must be careful because we have seen an increasing number of countries imposing travel restrictions, and that means their perception of risks have changed. But have they done a risk assessment to their countries or are they just implementing those measures based on their perception?" she said.
Stephen, who is with the organization's emergencies team, said African countries need to enhance their capacities to detect early, isolate and track all patients' contacts and effectively manage the sick to curb the spread of coronavirus.
She added that airport screening and a robust surveillance system were effective ways to detect cases from travelers without symptoms.
"WHO continues to advise countries not to impose travel restrictions but countries also have their sovereignty," she said.
'A ban on foreign nationals'
South Africa has declared a "national state of disaster," and put in place a number of travel restrictions on foreign nationals in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.
"We are imposing a travel ban on foreign nationals from high-risk countries such as Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and China as from 18 March 2020,"
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his address to the nation on Sunday.
Ramaphosa said the country was seeing an internal transmission of the virus that was first detected in a group that traveled to Italy.
He said the government will take "urgent and drastic measures'' to protect the citizens and its economy.
Visas issued to nationals from affected countries before the travel ban have also been revoked, the president said.
Ramaphosa said foreigners who have visited these countries in the last 20 days would also be denied a visa to travel to the country.
He announced the closure of half of the county's land ports and schools and banned public gatherings of more than 100 people across the nation.
In Kenya, the government raised the stakes by imposing a travel ban on foreigners from all countries that have reported any case of coronavirus.
The directive came into effect on Tuesday and will remain for a month, the government said in a statement on Sunday.
Morocco has suspended all international flights to and from its territory "until further notice" as part of measures to tackle the coronavirus, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday. It had previously banned flights to and from Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Belgium.
Schools shut down, social distancing
Ghana announced similar travel restrictions on Sunday and warned airlines not to board foreigners from countries that have recorded more than 200 cases of coronavirus in the last two weeks.
"All travel to Ghana is strongly discouraged at this point in time," Ghana's Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a video posted on Facebook on Sunday.
Uganda imposed travel restrictions last week on 16 countries it said had high cases of coronavirus, including the US and the UK, becoming the first in the pack to enforce such stringent travel advisory for foreign nationals.
Health authorities in the East African nation warned foreign nationals and Ugandan citizens in the affected countries to stay away or pay for their self-quarantine.
Clamor for border closure
People in Cameroon are calling on the government to close airports and borders into the West African nation after the country confirmed its fifth case of coronavirus on Monday. A French citizen was the first to test positive for the virus in the country.
Health Minister Dr. Manaouda Malachie, who announced the case on Twitter, did not name the nationality of the infected patient but that has not stopped citizens demanding that a travel ban be imposed on foreigners coming into the country.
"Listen to the plea of the people of Cameroon and close the border and quarantine everyone coming into the country. Countries that heavily depend on tourism have done so," Chapafac Christwadle tweeted.
CNN
The restriction will apply to travelers from countries with more than 1,000 cases. They include China, Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Japan, France, Germany, the United States, Norway, UK, Netherlands and Switzerland, the country's National Centre for Disease Control said on its Twitter account.
"The Federal Government of Nigeria has also suspended the issuance of visa on arrival to travelers from these countries. All travelers returning from these countries prior to the restriction will be in supervised self-isolation, monitored by the NCDC and Port Health Services," - the tweet read.
The restriction will take effect starting on March 20 and will be in place until further notice.
Health officials also announced an additional five cases of the virus in the country, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to eight. One of them is a recovered patient who came in contact with the index case to Nigeria, an Italian man on a business trip to the country, authorities said.
In an earlier statement on Tuesday, the NCDC said a 30-year-old woman, who came into the country after a short visit to the UK tested positive to coronavirus after she developed symptoms including coughing and a fever on her return.
She had self-isolated in her home when she arrived in the country on March 13 and called the agency when she developed symptoms, the NCDC said, adding that it had begun tracing those who had come in contact with her.
"We expect the number to be small because of her sensible decision to go into self-isolation from the time of her arrival," the statement read.
Africa shutting its doors
Nigeria joins other African countries that are shutting their airports and land borders to keep out people from countries that have a high number of coronavirus cases.
Tunisia on Monday suspended all international flights and closed the country's land borders in an attempt to contain the outbreak. It also banned gathering in markets and other places and introduced a nighttime curfew from 6 p.m to 6 a.m from Wednesday.
Sudan also sealed off all sea ports, land crossings and airports, a spokesman for Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council, Mohamed Al-Faki Suleiman, said in a press statement.
Hundreds of international flights have been canceled, schools have closed and travelers from coronavirus-hit countries have been restricted or, in some cases, banned from visiting some countries in Africa.
Egypt, with the highest number of coronavirus cases in Africa, announced it was suspending flights from all its airports starting Thursday to stop the spread of the virus, Ahram Online reported.
Some countries such as Djibouti are yet to record a single case, but it has suspended all international flights to the country, the US Embassy in Djibouti said in a statement.
There is widespread support on the continent for governments to impose travel bans. One Twitter user noted that Western countries would have acted swiftly to place travel sanctions on travelers if the outbreak originated in Africa.
"I hope African countries close up their borders to all these majorly affected countries because we all know the west would ban travel had Coronavirus started in Africa," they said.
Advice against restrictions
The travel bans and restrictions goes against the advice of the WHO, which has urged countries to not apply blind travel restrictions in a way that would impact trade and travel.
WHO Africa's Dr. Mary Stephen told CNN that many African countries, which were initially screening passengers from countries with outbreaks and also placing travelers from virus-hit countries on quarantine, may now be making travel ban decisions based on panic.
"The outbreak is evolving. It used to be China and now it is Italy and other countries are following after it. So we must be careful because we have seen an increasing number of countries imposing travel restrictions, and that means their perception of risks have changed. But have they done a risk assessment to their countries or are they just implementing those measures based on their perception?" she said.
Stephen, who is with the organization's emergencies team, said African countries need to enhance their capacities to detect early, isolate and track all patients' contacts and effectively manage the sick to curb the spread of coronavirus.
She added that airport screening and a robust surveillance system were effective ways to detect cases from travelers without symptoms.
"WHO continues to advise countries not to impose travel restrictions but countries also have their sovereignty," she said.
'A ban on foreign nationals'
South Africa has declared a "national state of disaster," and put in place a number of travel restrictions on foreign nationals in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.
"We are imposing a travel ban on foreign nationals from high-risk countries such as Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and China as from 18 March 2020,"
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his address to the nation on Sunday.
Ramaphosa said the country was seeing an internal transmission of the virus that was first detected in a group that traveled to Italy.
He said the government will take "urgent and drastic measures'' to protect the citizens and its economy.
Visas issued to nationals from affected countries before the travel ban have also been revoked, the president said.
Ramaphosa said foreigners who have visited these countries in the last 20 days would also be denied a visa to travel to the country.
He announced the closure of half of the county's land ports and schools and banned public gatherings of more than 100 people across the nation.
In Kenya, the government raised the stakes by imposing a travel ban on foreigners from all countries that have reported any case of coronavirus.
The directive came into effect on Tuesday and will remain for a month, the government said in a statement on Sunday.
Morocco has suspended all international flights to and from its territory "until further notice" as part of measures to tackle the coronavirus, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday. It had previously banned flights to and from Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Belgium.
Schools shut down, social distancing
Ghana announced similar travel restrictions on Sunday and warned airlines not to board foreigners from countries that have recorded more than 200 cases of coronavirus in the last two weeks.
"All travel to Ghana is strongly discouraged at this point in time," Ghana's Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said in a video posted on Facebook on Sunday.
Uganda imposed travel restrictions last week on 16 countries it said had high cases of coronavirus, including the US and the UK, becoming the first in the pack to enforce such stringent travel advisory for foreign nationals.
Health authorities in the East African nation warned foreign nationals and Ugandan citizens in the affected countries to stay away or pay for their self-quarantine.
Clamor for border closure
People in Cameroon are calling on the government to close airports and borders into the West African nation after the country confirmed its fifth case of coronavirus on Monday. A French citizen was the first to test positive for the virus in the country.
Health Minister Dr. Manaouda Malachie, who announced the case on Twitter, did not name the nationality of the infected patient but that has not stopped citizens demanding that a travel ban be imposed on foreigners coming into the country.
"Listen to the plea of the people of Cameroon and close the border and quarantine everyone coming into the country. Countries that heavily depend on tourism have done so," Chapafac Christwadle tweeted.
CNN
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