COVID-19 And The National Inter-State Lockdown

The 36 state governors unanimously agreed after a virtual meeting on Wednesday, April 22, to the implementation of a national inter-state lockdown over a period of two weeks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The governors reached this decision after available evidence showed that community transmission of the virus had resulted in its spread to many of the states.

The move by the governors is a good one. This is evidenced by the adoption of the suggestion by President Muhammadu Buhari, who during his third broadcast to the nation since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease announced a ban on inter-state commuting except for those on essential duties.

Banning inter-state commuting indefinitely is a sure way to beat the new coronavirus spread given the way Nigerians live and move.

The transport system of the country has scant respect for social distancing and so is the country’s style of living: the majority of Nigerians live in clusters.

So, stopping the community spread of the virus without placing restriction on internal movements would be herculean. Many countries that have been able to flatten the curve of the spread of COVID-19 also restricted citizens’ movement as a strategy to beat the spread of the virus.

The major benefit of inter-state movement restriction is that when the virus is contained in a community or state, tackling and defeating it become a lot easier than when it is allowed to spread to every part of the country as the particular state or community that has become the epicentre can be singled out and resources deployed to the affected place to curtail the spread of the virus.

The restriction is coming a bit late: if the Federal Government had speedily responded when COVID-19 became a pandemic and shut the airspace while also restricting inter-state movements, the virus would have been kept away from the shores of the country and it would not have been exposed to the danger of community transmission of the virus.

THE 36 state governors unanimously agreed after a virtual meeting on Wednesday, April 22, to the implementation of a national inter-state lockdown over a period of two weeks to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The governors reached this decision after available evidence showed that community transmission of the virus had resulted in its spread to many of the states.

The move by the governors is a good one. This is evidenced by the adoption of the suggestion by President Muhammadu Buhari, who during his third broadcast to the nation since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease announced a ban on inter-state commuting except for those on essential duties.

Banning inter-state commuting indefinitely is a sure way to beat the new coronavirus spread given the way Nigerians live and move.

The transport system of the country has scant respect for social distancing and so is the country’s style of living: the majority of Nigerians live in clusters. So, stopping the community spread of the virus without placing restriction on internal movements would be herculean.

Many countries that have been able to flatten the curve of the spread of COVID-19 also restricted citizens’ movement as a strategy to beat the spread of the virus.

The major benefit of inter-state movement restriction is that when the virus is contained in a community or state, tackling and defeating it become a lot easier than when it is allowed to spread to every part of the country as the particular state or community that has become the epicentre can be singled out and resources deployed to the affected place to curtail the spread of the virus.

The restriction is coming a bit late: if the Federal Government had speedily responded when COVID-19 became a pandemic and shut the airspace while also restricting inter-state movements, the virus would have been kept away from the shores of the country and it would not have been exposed to the danger of community transmission of the virus.

Source: Tribune.