Nigerian army prepares for coronavirus lockdown, mass burials

A woman wearing a protective face mask walks across the road, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Abuja Nigeria March 24, 2020.

The Nigerian Army is preparing to forcibly transfer the sick to hospital and enforce curbs on movement to try to shield the country from the coronavirus, and is leasing equipment for “possible mass burial”, according to an army memo seen by Reuters.

The memo from Army headquarters also outlines plans to protect government food storage from looters as Africa’s most populous nation braces for the illness to spread further in the country.