Lagosians have trooped to the highways of Ikorodu to participate in large work-outs, defying the Federal Government initiated lockdown on the State and ignoring social distancing rules entirely OYOGist.com reports.
Staying indoors for long hours and up to days at a time can be frustrating. With citizens of some of the world’s leading economies already seeing divorce rates going up after just days of lockdown, it’s safe to imagine a dire scenario in a country like Nigeria where a huge portion of the population is living in poverty.
That is why these images of Lagosians trooping out in their hundreds to participate in mass workouts while the government had placed a ban on movements is interesting to debate.
One could argue that Nigerians who are used to observing fitness regime during their daily commute to work are trying to stay in shape while they observe the no-work rule, but one doctor begs to differ.
Popular online doctor and social media influencer, Dr Olufunmilayo says these Lagosians do not even observe fitness exercises in normal situations, so doing so now is an effort at defying the government’s social distancing rules.
Safety-wise, the activity makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Lagos State currently has the highest record of the coronavirus cases in Nigeria. At the last count (6th of April, 2020), NCDC has reported 130 confirmed positive cases in Lagos alone, and the daily reports keep seeing increases, with trickles in recovery. This does not take into consideration that the most tests NCDC is able to conduct daily is on 1000 suspected cases.
These cases are only cases that have come in contact with confirmed cases or cases that have exhibited some COVID-19 symptoms.
The outlook for things with these reckless exercises that Lagosians are participating in, throwing social distancing rules away while at it, will only succeed at one thing. This is increase the number of cases we have, and force the government to extend the lockdown and adopt harsher means to enforce them.
Let’s hope we don’t get to see either of them, but keeping Coronavirus out and getting our lives back to normal would require total adherence to rules set out by the authorities.
See more pictures of Lagosians trooping out on the road to exercise together while defying social distancing and lockdown rules in Lagos State.
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