TB Joshua’s Burial: Lagos Moves To Stop Mourners From Importing Deadly COVID-19 Strains To Nigeria

Lagos State Government has moved to prevent mourners based abroad from bringing new deadly strains of COVID-19 into the country during the funeral of the founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Prophet TB Joshua.

The state government said in a statement on Sunday that it would ensure that COVID-19 protocols are strictly complied with as the state expects influx of people who will come from outside the country to attend the burial which starts July 5.

The statement revealed that a delegation from the state led by the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi and the Director-General of the Lagos State Safety Commission, Mr. Lanre Mojola, visited the church to inspect facilities put in place to prevent the spread of the virus as the preparation for the ceremony gets underway.

The delegation noted that there were some areas of infection prevention protocols that needed to be strengthened in the church, it assured that those areas would be addressed before and during the funeral activities,.

The commissioner also stated that biosecurity and safety experts would be on ground to work with the local organising committee to monitor and ensure the safety of attendees.

He said, “In these very precarious times that we are in, with a global pandemic that is evolving dynamically, what we now know is that there are different strains of the virus circulating the world, and Lagos State has a very strong third wave prevention strategy.

“The likely cause of a third wave is going to be an importation from visitors who are infected with the virus, so we are particularly careful about working with the Synagogue to make sure that we have a collaboration that will reduce the opportunity of either importing a virus or even allowing someone positive to interact with the community.

“So we have had series of engagements with the officials and executive of SCOAN. We are also in touch with the Federal Government, the Presidential Steering Committee and the Federal Ministry of Health.

“And the Incident Commander, Mr. Governor has said that this is a priority event and we have to ensure that we give SCOAN all the support it requires to make sure that the series of planned events for the funeral scheduled between the 5th of July and the 11th of July are performed under the strictness guidelines.”