Coronavirus: We will ban public gatherings if Italian case escalates, says Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on Friday that the state government would prohibit public gatherings if the coronavirus case confirmed in the state escalated.

He, however, said taking such a measure now in the wake of the confirmation of the virus could give rise to needless panic among the public.

At a press conference held at the State House in Marina on Friday, the governor noted that the condition of the Italian, who happened to be a victim, was not ‘highly contagious’ at the moment, hence, there was no need to forbid public assembly in the state.

Sanwo-Olu allayed the fears of a possible spread among residents in the state, saying the victim was being isolated at the state’s bio-security facility in the Yaba area of the state.

He assured the people that there was no cause for panic among Lagosians and Nigerians at large over the reported COVID-19 incident, stressing that measures had been set in motion by the state and federal government to contain the spread of the virus in the country.

He said, “It is only when there is a high level of escalation that the public can be panicky and this is when we realise that it is getting to person-to-person transmission.

“As we have said, this isolated case has been contained right from the hospital where he was first admitted and the guesthouse he slept after his arrival in Nigeria.

“It is when there is a person-to-person infection that we can trigger another level of isolation and curtail public events where a large number of people can gather. But I don’t think we have gotten to that level yet.”