Federal Government has officially confirmed that the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is already in the country.
Both Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and health minister, Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure at different events on Monday evening.
Sanwo-Olu also announced that since last week, an average of six deaths have been recorded daily from the disease in the country’s commercial city and coronavirus epicentre.
In his address at the national briefing by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Ehanire confirmed that like in many other parts of Africa, Nigeria has “begun to record a sharp increase in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the month of July, as global anxiety over the Delta variant spreads.”
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He said;
All data indicate that we are now no doubt in the third wave of resurgence of the SARS-COV-2 infection, which we saw coming long ago.
Corroborating the minister, Sanwo-Olu in a statement noted that despite efforts to prevent the third wave from hitting Nigeria, the third wave has already arrived.
Sanwo-Olu said the current figures were worse than what obtained at the height of the pandemic last year, when a total of 64,032 cases were recorded with 56,336 recovering and 320 death.
According to him;
From the beginning of July, we started to experience an increase in the number of daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lagos State, with the positivity rate going from 1.1% at the end of June 2021 to 7% at the end of July 2021. As at the 1st of August 2021, the positivity rate in Lagos is 8.9%.
This is an 8-fold increase over the recorded figure a month ago, and it should rightly alarm all of us. This has resulted in 4,300 confirmed cases in July alone and 352 admissions into our isolation facilities. But let me make it clear that this necessary sense of alarm should not be responded to with panic, but instead with a firm resolve and determination to reverse the trend.
The Governor added;
We have done it before and we can do it again. We dealt with the first and second waves and did our best to prevent a third wave. Now that it is fully upon us, we must dig deep into what we have learnt from the previous waves, as well as summon the will to do everything necessary to bring down the numbers, on the way to eventually defeating the virus once and for all.
The announcement came as the American government boosted Nigeria’s fight against the virus with the donation of 4.8 million doses of Moderna vaccines.
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However, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) warned that with the current rate of infections, the deadly Delta variant might spread to many more states if conscious efforts were not made to control it.
Speaking further, Dr. Osagie Ehanire said Nigeria began to record a sharp increase in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since July, as global anxiety over the Delta variant spread.
The minister stated;
All data indicate that we are now, no doubt, in the third wave of resurgence of the SARS-COV-2 infection, which we saw coming long ago. As at today, Nigeria has recorded a total of 174,315 COVID-19 cases from 2,542,261 samples tested, with 7,151 active cases, and sadly, 2,149 deaths in all.
Ehanire said of particular concern was the fact that the Delta variant of COVID-19 spread more rapidly and had become prevalent in many countries, constituting 93 per cent of COVID cases in the United Kingdom.
The minister said the federal government had stepped up efforts to increase testing to identify positive cases for isolation and treatment.
He stated that anyone with suspicion of infection should go to the nearest testing centre to get a COVID-19 test.
Ehanire disclosed that all treatment centres had been put on alert to receive cases especially, in the face of the threat of the third wave.
He explained that only 17 states had made data or sample submissions in the last cycle, with Lagos and Akwa Ibom states.
However, hope of a considerable degree of containment beckoned yesterday with the donation of 4.08 million doses of Moderna Vaccines by the US government.
Director General, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, announced this on Monday, saying the donation came through the COVAX facilities.
Meanwhile on the diplomatic scene, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama announced a new COVID-19 port of entry policy for diplomats as ratified by Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19.
The policy will apply to diplomats from two categories of countries – the five restricted countries and others.
He also emphasised the special protocol of 72 hours PCR test before travelling that was in place for diplomats coming from UK, South Africa, Brazil, Turkey and India or had passed thorough those countries in the last 14 days.
Onyeama said diplomats from the non-restricted countries would only have to do the 72-hour prior PCR test and within seven days of arrival do a test in an approved private laboratory in addition to the mandatory 14- day self-isolation at home.
He warned that the diplomats that had no PCR test would be quarantined in a government facility.
According to him, diplomats with mild COVID-19 conditions would be isolated at home while those with moderate and severe symptoms would be isolated in accredited facilities.
Diplomats from non-restricted countries could get special waiver from the seven-day isolation, but applicable only to high profile diplomats visiting the president or the Vice President.
