The Federal Government has re-introduced a nationwide 12am to 4am curfew to curtail further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
The National Incident Manager (NIM), Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Dr. Mukhtar Muhammad, said this on Monday in Abuja, at the national briefing of the committee.
According to Muhammad, who is also the Head of Technical Secretariat of the PSC, the new directive is to take effect by midnight of Tuesday, May 11.
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The development follows the alarming number of cases and fatalities in Brazil, India and Turkey among others.
He said that with the restrictions imposed, mass gatherings in public spaces have been restricted to 50 people at any given time.
He also said that access to government institutions would also be denied to anyone not wearing a face mask while government meetings and travels have been limited to the virtual platform.
These are the other things you need to know about the new restrictions
- Event centres, night clubs, to remain closed till further notice, while official engagements, meetings and conferences should continue to hold virtually.
- Military personnel are to monitor and enforce adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions on public transport, that is wearing face masks and maintaining social distance.
- State governments to enforce these guidelines with violators made to appear before mobile courts and pay fines.
- People who are aged 60 years and above and with co-morbidities are strongly urged to stay at home and avoid crowds.
- Only essential travellers are encouraged and both international and domestic travellers must abide by all existing protocols.
- All international passengers must register with the Nigeria international portal. Rail transport, no limitations to interstate or intrastate travels, however, consumers of services must ensure that they abide by stipulated regulations.
- On communal services, markets and stores, they should ensure that there are spot checks of commercial premises and observed or mandatory non-pharmaceutical interventions. Facility owners and managers and store owners are to ensure that physical distancing is observed.
- Hotels are to remain open, but they must observe or non-pharmaceutical interventions.
- Schools have already opened, however, they should consider the use of approved antigen based rapid diagnostics tests as recommended by the NCDC.
- All religious gatherings should be limited to less than 50 percent capacity to ensure physical distancing and use of facemask is mandatory.
- All recreational venues, gyms and indoor sports facilities are to close until 11 of June when the situation will be reviewed. However, non-contact outdoor sports such as golf, polo and tennis are not affected by these.
- Gatherings in weddings, parties and meetings should also comply with 50 persons.
- Mass political gatherings, gatherings in the open, a large number of people are strictly to  adhere this COVID-19 protocol as issued by INEC.
