Lagos State Government has announced the closure of the Eti-Osa Isolation Center in the state as confirmed COVID-19 cases reduce.
Governor Sanwo-Olu announced the closure at Lagos House, Marina, during the 17th update on the management of coronavirus in the state on Saturday, NAN reports.
He said the Agidingbi Isolation Centre would also be closed and the patients relocated to a large capacity centre – Indo-Centre in Anthony area, which would be soon be inaugurated.
Sanwo-Olu stressed;
Over the last four, five months, we have built excess capacity centre, but that is only the way to go, you cannot over-prepare. We have got to a stage where we need to balance the economics of this and which of these facilities do we need to keep running. Some of them now are having less than 20 per cent of occupancy. This is why we reach a conclusion to shut Eti-Osa facility and another one in Lekki.
He explained;
The Infectious Diseases Hospital in Yaba is now also gradually being reverted back to its former status as a hospital to cater to all forms of infectious diseases.
The Governor added that the CACOVID dedicated tent on the IDH grounds would, however, remain strictly for COVID-19 cases.
He explained;
I must also mention that we have recorded a decrease in positivity rates in Lagos State over the past two weeks, which, combined with the increase in testing numbers, gives an encouraging picture of the outcome of our response strategy. It now over five months since the first case of coronavirus was recorded in Nigeria.
Sanwo-Olu noted;
Since then, Nigeria has seen more than 43,000 infections and significant disruption of social, religious, educational, and economic life, like every other part of the world. As of July 31, Lagos state has had a total of 15,150 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 10,835 persons who have recovered and discharged. Sadly, we have also lost 194 persons to the virus.
The Governor said in June, the government further expanded COVID-19 testing capacity in Lagos with the accreditation of seven private laboratories.
According to him, the government has successfully tested close to 9,000 samples across the public and private sector laboratories.
He said that it showed a 50 per cent increase from the approximately 6,000 samples tested in each of the preceding two weeks.
The governor noted that the increase in testing would lead to an increase in the number of daily confirmed cases of the virus in the state.
As at press time, Lagos state has 15,186 confirmed cases, 2148 discharged and 192 deaths, according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
NAN
