Abstract
The advent of Corona Virus in 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the world has become a health threat to government and challenge to the public. This led to the imposition of social distancing and lockdown policy aimed at preventing the spread of this pandemic among the populace. The submission to these policies may have intrinsic implications on the public, regardless of the public health benefits to be derived. This study aims at assessing the critical effects of social distancing and lockdown for COVID-19 on the residents of Oyo state in Nigeria. The designed questionnaire focused on residents’ perception of the COVID-19 and their attitudes towards social distancing and view on lockdown. Questionnaire administration among 1567 participants was through computer based online survey to avoid closed contact and maintain social distancing from the participants. The results submitted that no difference exist (P < 0.05) in terms of effects of social distancing and lockdown based on residents’ socio-economic attributes. The economic life, religious life, business and movement of people as well as the education of the students, relationship among colleagues and planned events are mostly affected by social distancing and lockdown. This will abate residents’ welfare, safety and limiting human right consequently threaten residents’ health and social insecurity as well as urban and regional economic implications. This helps to develop potential thoughtful strategies to alleviate public health catastrophe especially amongst informal settlements’ residents in Oyo state, Nigeria.