Nigeria’s fight against coronavirus goes door-to-door in Lagos

Local authorities in Nigeria on Friday announced the start of a door-to-door checks on residents of the megacity Lagos to identify cases of coronavirus. Health workers will be visiting homes and healthcare facilities in order to carry out an electronic survey enquiring about cough, cold and fever, some of the telltale signs of Covid-19. 

“This is in a bid to intensify our search for possible cases of Covid-19 in different communities across the state,” said Lagos State Commissioner for Health Akin Abayomi. 

Abayomi urged Lagosians to give healthcare workers “maximum support” by providing accurate information that would help contain the pandemic. 

The state commissioner said healthcare workers would be identified by their official “Covid-19 Outbreak Response” tags and letter from the local government authorities. 

Lagos State has confirmed a total of 158 cases of Covid-19 with three dead, according to statistics from the local authorities on Thursday evening. Nigeria's health ministry said the country has confirmed a total of 288 cases of coronavirus resulting in seven dead, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. 

Lagos city has a population of an estimated 21 million people.