Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has expressed concern over the increasing cases of coronavirus cases in the state, saying that the state is heading towards the third wave of the virus.
Sanwo-Olu made this known in an urgent press statement on Sunday, expressing that it has become imperative to provide Lagosians an update on coronavirus pandemic situation in Lagos State, and ongoing response as a State Government.
Sanwo-Olu also revealed that isolation centres in the state have recorded a five per cent increase in occupancy in two weeks.
Speaking further, the governor explained that as of July 7, Lagos State had recorded a total of 60,202 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Of this number, 55,135 have recovered in-community and 770 are currently being managed actively in the community.
He noted that over the course of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, about 4,382 patients have been admitted into our various COVID-19 care centres in Lagos: with 357 registered fatalities.
The Governor said;
Starting around the end of March 2021, the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic in Lagos State began to wind down, and we began to enjoy some reprieve from the worst effects of the virus. This allowed us to further open-up the economy to allow the start of the journey towards full normalcy in our lives and the pursuit of livelihoods, after what has been a very difficult year.
Regrettably, in spite of the hard work and dedicated efforts towards sustaining the return to normalcy, over the last three months, we are now finding ourselves at what appears to be the start of a potential third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Lagos State.
He stressed;
From the beginning of July, we started to experience a steep increase in the number of daily confirmed cases, with the test positivity rate going from 1.1% at the end of June 2021 to its current rate of 6.6% as at 8th of July 2021.
The rapid increase within a week gives great cause for concern. Also, within the last two weeks, the occupancy rate at our two isolation centres increased from an average of one per cent to six per cent.
This is the new and disturbing reality that now confronts us. But we must not be demoralised by this. We must instead resolve that we will not leave any stone unturned in our bid to effectively mitigate the third wave of this pandemic in Lagos State.
As you all know, Lagos has been the epicentre of the pandemic since the start, and the way we manage it here has a significant impact and reverberating effect on the national outlook and outcomes.
He added;
In all we have tested 563,679 samples in Lagos State since the pandemic started. Today we have 30 accredited testing centers: 26 private and 4 public health laboratories in the State, a significant improvement in capacity over the course of the past year.
Sanwo-Olu made it clear that outside of the health facilities accredited for the management and treatment of COVID-19, and the EKOTELEMED programme, no other health facilities, whether public or private, were permitted to admit or attend to COVID-19 patients.
He noted;
Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) is providing monitoring and surveillance and has been mandated to apply heavy fines and other punitive measures on all facilities found to be in violation of this.
Lagosians should desist from patronizing non-accredited COVID-19 treatment centers, and proprietors should also ensure that all suspected and confirmed cases are referred appropriately.
On vaccines, the governor stated that one of the major tenets of the state’s mitigation strategy against the 3rd wave was vaccination campaign, similar to other parts of the world.
Sanwo-Olu expressed;
It has been observed by various credible studies that those that have received their 4 vaccines have demonstrated significant resistance to the effects of the virus, with fewer associated complications and deaths.
As of today, however, the percentage of residents of Lagos who have received two (2) doses of the vaccine stands at a mere 1%. We recognise that this is not adequate, and given the imminent third wave, and our priority to reduce COVID-19 related deaths, we are exploring all avenues possible to ramp up access to vaccination so as to reach our herd immunity target of at least 60% COVID-19 vaccination coverage of the population of Lagos State.
We are confident that we will be getting a second batch of vaccines very soon, to kick-start the second phase of vaccinations.
The new update comes barely two days after Nigeria Centre for Disease Control said it has detected a confirmed case with deadly SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, also known as lineage B.1.617.2.
Read Also: NCDC Confirms Deadly Delta COVID-19 Variant In Nigeria
NCDC in a statement said the variant was detected in a traveller to Nigeria, following the routine travel test required of all international travellers and genomic sequencing at NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Abuja.
The deadly Delta variant is recognised by the World Health Organisation as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility.
The variant has been detected in over 90 countries and is expected to spread to more countries, according to NCDC.
