The Lagos State Government has issued a warning to its residents that they could end up in prison if caught without a face mask in public.
This comes amidst warnings of a second wave of the deadly coronavirus disease that has infected close to 80,000 Nigerians, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, NCDC.
Of the current 9,070 active cases in the country, State Governor, Babajikde Sanwo-Olu who has been in isolation for about a week, is amongst the 2,434 active cases in the state.
Speaking via its verified Twitter handle on Tuesday, the government told Lagosian that the failure to wear a mask in public contravenes the Lagos State Infectious Diseases (Prevention) Regulations or Criminal Laws of Lagos State.
The tweet read, “Did you know? Failure to wear a face mask in public or breach of any COVID-19 regulations, you can be prosecuted under the Lagos State Infectious Diseases (Prevention) Regulations or Criminal Laws of Lagos State and upon conviction liable to imprisonment up to one year.”
Meanwhile, in order to limit the spread of the delay virus that has infected at least 26,767 persons in the state, the government recently shut the recreational centres and schools while worship centres are expected not to exceed 50 per cent of their capacity at any given time.
In addition, all civil servants below grade level 14 were also asked to work from home while all schools have been shut.
At the time of this report, a total of 237 casualties have been recorded in the state as a result of COVID-19 while at least 24,096 patients have been discharged following recovery.
