Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has directed civil servants on Level 14 and below to work from home till February 1, 2021 as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease amid the second wave of the pandemic.

This was contained in a statement signed on Saturday by the Head of Service in the state, Hakeem Muri-Okunola.

Muri-Okunola, however, noted that the directive excludes staff on essential duty as well as first responders.

He said, “Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has approved a further extension of the work-from-home order to all State Public Servants on Grade Levels 14 and below from Monday, 18th January 2021, to Monday, 1st February 2021, to curtail the spread of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He urged all public servants to stay safe and ensure continued observance of all COVID-19 protocols for physical distancing, use of face masks, regular washing of hands with soap and running water as well as the use of hand sanitisers.”

Muri-Okunola also stated that the weekly duty rosters should be maintained for effective service delivery by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the State Government.

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has urged Nigerians to disregard a fake fresh lockdown alert in circulation on social media.

PTF National Coordinator, Dr Sani Aliyu, made this known in a short video statement released on Thursday.

There have been concerns regarding a fresh lockdown as the country battles the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

But Aliyu said the government was aware of the economic implication of a fresh lockdown and, therefore, urged Nigerians to adhere to all guidelines to curb the spread of the disease.

He said, “We are aware of a fake message on WhatsApp that we’ve declared a lockdown in the country. This is absolutely not true. I call on the Nigerian public to please ignore this message and continue with normal activities .

“I’m also calling on the public to abide by the non-pharmaceutical interventions including wearing of face masks in the public, washing of hands and maintaining physical distancing.

“There is an established way that we send our messages to the public including declarations when it comes to infection control. So, please ignore what is being going round on WhatsApp.”

The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Federal Government in March 2020 locked down the Federal Capital Territory as well as Lagos and Ogun States for over five weeks as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic. The lockdown had a tremendous effect on economic activities with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry putting the loss at about N3bn in the period under review.

Many jobs were also lost as airlines, hotels, banks, amongst others cut their workforce due to the crushing effect of the lockdown.

COVI19 Testing: Clarifications On Corruption Allegations.

@followlasg and @LSMOH consider it pertinent to make the following clarifications on account of series of unfounded corruption allegations supposedly against officials @LagosBiobank and IDH, Yaba

It is mperative to clarify that public laboratories are only obliged to conduct #COVID19 tests on individuals who either have symptoms of infections or who have contact with positive cases of #COVID19 including patients undergoing further medical or surgical procedures.

On the other hand, private laboratories mostly attend to people desiring #COVID19 tests for purposes of travelling, school resumption and other certification reasons that may not be requiring immediate medical attention.

#COVI19 Testing: Clarifications On Corruption Allegations.@followlasg and @LSMOH consider it pertinent to make the following clarifications on account of series of unfounded corruption allegations supposedly against officials @LagosBiobank and IDH, Yaba pic.twitter.com/lgb0BY7Sjp

— Prof. Akin Abayomi (@ProfAkinAbayomi) January 14, 2021