The impact of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic has forced places that are densely populated to a permanent or temporal lockdown of most of their public places. It can be recalled that even here in Nigeria, the Government had ordered the closure of worship centres last week.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, took it a step further today when he ordered the closure of all markets not selling essential commodities such as medical supplies, water, foodstuff amongst others. This is part of precautionary measures to curb the further spread of the virus, which is needful in a congested state like Lagos.

The Governor disclosed this on Tuesday during a live press conference on Tuesday, saying, “All open markets and stores except for sellers of food and medicines, medical equipment and other essential life-saving products are directed to close from Thursday 26th, 2020 for the next seven days.

“It is not a total lockdown, we still want people on essential services to go about their normal activities. We are trying to de-centralise markets in Lagos.”

“This is why we want to use some of our closed schools as markets, so people can buy food and medicine without going a long distance. It is only when you are alive that you can talk about economics and finance.”