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COVID-19 Lockdown: Lagos Mortuaries Need Urgent Decongestion – Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at a press briefing on Saturday, April 25, disclosed that mortuaries in the state are now full and need urgent decongestion.

And that’s because residents of the state have been unable to gather to hold burial ceremonies for their loved ones due to the lockdown order in the state to curtail the novel coronavirus.

Sanwo-Olu added that families who have corpses in the state mortuaries should pick up their bodies in the next two weeks so as to decongestion the facilities. And they can also hold funeral ceremonies provided they comply with the outlined requirements by the state.

The governor tweeted:

Today, I gave an order that families who have corpses of loved ones in our mortuaries have 2 weeks to pick the bodies for funeral so as to decongest our facilities. For about two months, there have been no funerals in Lagos due to the Lent period and restrictions of #COVID19.

You can hold funeral ceremonies in Lagos State as long as you comply with the requirements that we have outlined, which are as follows: the total number of persons at the funeral, including officiating religious leaders, must not exceed 20; appropriate physical distancing must be maintained at the funeral ceremony, all attendees/mourners must use masks and ensure they wash their hands after the ceremony. There also must be NO receptions or parties to accompany these funerals.

Be rest assured that as long as these directives are fully complied with, funerals will be allowed and encouraged to take place. If we are unable to see a decongestion of the mortuaries across the State in the next two weeks the Lagos State Government will be compelled to carry out mass burials to achieve this. We do not want to be forced to do this, which is why we are asking for your cooperation in this regard.

I also ordered the release of 209 inmates of correctional centres in Lagos. This was done in part to decongest correctional centres in view of the #COVID19 pandemic and is part of a larger effort to bring lasting reform to the administration of criminal justice in the country.

As at midnight yesterday April 24, 2020, Lagos State had a total of 670 confirmed cases of #COVID19. What this means is that we have seen a 76% increase in our number of confirmed cases within four days, an average of 70 cases daily.

This increase shows three things; One, that we are now firmly in the community transmission phase; Two, that our strategy of ramping up testing especially within local communities is working, and, Three, that this is not the time for us to relax or to slow down in the efforts we are making to break the chain of transmission. Let continue to follow all health advisory, observe a high level of personal hygiene and take note that the use of face masks is now compulsory in public places in Lagos State. Together, as one Lagos, we will beat #COVID19