Lagos State has revealed that worship centres would reopen from August 7, while restaurants in the state would be allowed to operate sit-in services at 50 per cent capacity.
This was made known by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu at a briefing on Saturday, the governor said, “Places of worship in Lagos will now be opened from Friday, the 7th of August for our Muslim worshippers, and on Sunday, the 9th of August for our Christian worshippers.
“We will only allow 50 per cent of their maximum capacities, either at the church or at the mosque. Churches who have a Saturday worship day will also be allowed to hold worship.
“We must reiterate that places of worship have their regular once a week service at designated days. For the avoidance of doubt, there will be Friday worships for our Muslim followers and Sunday worships for our Christian followers.
“We will monitor this for the next couple of weeks and see how compliance gets as we move along. They are encouraged to have multiple services on those days but they should restrict it to those designated days of worship.
“In addition, the following conditions must also be fully met by all our religious centres; regular gatherings are permitted to hold but vigils and other services should still be on hold for now.
“We should still ensure that no face masks policy are maintained throughout the duration of the services. They should ensure that regular cleaning and disinfection of the facilities are carried out to maintain a clean and hygiene environment before, during and after the services.
“It is mandatory to provide handwashing facilities and hand sanitisers at the various worship places. Handshakes, hugs, high-fives are not permitted during gatherings and should be emphasised and displayed at the various places of worship,” he added.
As at Friday, Lagos had recorded 15,000 cases of COVID-19, with 200 deaths according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, making it the epicentre of the virus in the country.
