Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, has said the use of face masks in public places will be made compulsory in the state starting from next week.
Mr Sanwo-Olu at a press update on Monday said this is part of the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
“Wearing of face masks is attributed to the rising double-digit cases that the state has begun to record and the need to stall the further spread of the virus in communities.
“On Sunday April 19, we saw the highest daily increase, nationally and in Lagos State. Lagos saw 70 new cases, taking our total tally to 379. Of this newly confirmed 70 cases, 8 originated from our neighbouring state,” he said.
The governor said tailors have been assigned to produce one million locally made face masks which will be distributed in the coming week.
Mr Sanwo-Olu assured Lagosians that there is no need to panic as the number of confirmed cases increase.
“As we implement these strategies, and take testing deeper into our neighborhoods and communities, we expect that we will see more positive cases. I must use this opportunity to commend all the teams who are carrying out this active community case search,” he said.
The commissioner for health in the state, Akin Abayomi, earlier hinted the press on Sunday that the state will enforce the use of face masks.
He said the use of face mask does not protect against COVID-19 but rather protects people around an infected person from contracting the infection from droplets.
Mr Abayomi said the state is not encouraging the public to go and purchase medical face masks because it would deprive the medical community of the medical masks they require for their professional activity.
“There is some theoretical evidence that wearing of masks may indeed reduce the amount of droplets in the environment from the infected person and that is the reason why we are beginning to define the strategy of face masks for the general community.”
