Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos says event planners and attendees must adhere strictly to a set of rules outlined by the state government.

The announcement comes amid fears of a fresh surge of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

“All social events must be duly registered to obtain Event Safety Clearance from the Lagos State Safety Commission website: www.lasgsafetyreg.com prior to holding; and the guidelines set out below must be strictly adhered to,” the governor said in a statement on Tuesday.

Per the statement, all event centres must register and follow the guidelines set by the government on the Lagos State Safety Commission website. 

“Where possible, events should be held outdoors and occupancy limit at any event must not exceed 60 per cent of the maximum design capacity of the event centre.

All persons attending an event at any venue “must be subject to Rapid Diagnostic test (Antigen) to be conducted at the event venue or within 24hrs prior to the event at designated laboratories” irrespective of their vaccination status. Organisers would, however, need to apply for rapid tests at their venues through the Safety Commission, the statement noted.

As before, all guests and service providers at the event must wear a nose mask or face shield before entry.

Lagos is the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria owing to its hosting the country’s busiest international airport which welcomes thousands of travellers to Nigeria’s economic nerve centre.

The state government continues to work to prevent further devastation of its 84 billion dollars economy catering for its more than 20 million population.

As of December 7, Lagos has recorded 78, 527 cases of Coronavirus with 753 of them resulting in deaths.