States in Nigeria have been warned as schools reopen of a possible lockdown.

 The federal government has reacted as states announce schools resumption, saying another lockdown might be possible if Nigerians fail to adhere strictly to the preventive measures put in place by the COVID-19 task force. 

The warning was given by the secretary to the government of the federation and chairman, Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha said this on Monday, at the joint national briefing of the taskforce. 

Mustapha noted that over the last one week, the scientific community have tried to explain some new manifestation of COVID-19 spread, but lamented that the nation continues to observe a reversal of gains in the battle mostly in countries around Europe. 

He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also expressed some concerns due to the fact that weekly cases have now exceeded those reported in March 2020 when the pandemic peaked in Europe. 

According to him, ​Israel has re-introduced a three-week lockdown, the United Kingdom is considering another lock-down phase, Spain is enforcing a partial lockdown in Madrid, and France, amidst protests by its citizens apart from other stricter measures they introduced to contain the virus. 

He said similar stories are coming from South Korea, Iran and the number of fatalities is approaching 200,000 in the USA. 

The SGF warned that the call became more pertinent in view of the noticeably increasing disregard for basic non-pharmaceutical measures that have proven very successful. 

He lamented that face masks have now been turned into chin masks, social distancing and gatherings are returning to the pre-COVID era.