PRETORIA - Nigeria’s commercial hub Lagos has suspended plans to reopen places of worship after a review of the new coronavirus outbreak, Today ng reports on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the Nigerian government said it would allow the reopening of places of worship from June 19 after they were closed in March to halt the spread of the highly infectious virus. It was said each state would decide their terms.
Christianity and Islam are widely practised in Lagos and the rest of Nigeria.
“We will not be proceeding with the opening of the places of worship,” Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was quoted saying.
He added that the closures will be effective until further notice.
Sanwo-Olu said the decision followed a review of the outbreak in the state.
“Due to the continuous increase of #COVID19 cases in our state, we have rescinded till further notice our earlier decision to open churches and mosques for worship. We are now fully in the phase of personal responsibility regarding this pandemic," he said in a tweet.
On Wednesday, figures from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control placed Lagos State as the epicentre of the virus with 7461 confirmed cases.
Meanwhile figures on real-time data portal Worldometer show that Africa's most populous country has recorded 17,148 cases and 455 deaths since the first documented case of the virus in February.
Today ng reports that the month-long lockdown in Lagos has been eased in early May but authorities have expressed concern that many people are not observing rules to remain 2 metres from others, wearing of masks in public and not gather in groups of 20 or more.
Aljazeera reported that large groups of people have spotted often gathered by the road waiting for public transport.
Distinctive yellow minivans used as buses are usually full, with some passengers struggling to find space to enter vehicles.