Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the state has in the past two weeks seen a general decrease in COVID-19 positive rates.
This development, combined with the increase in testing numbers, according to Sanwo-Olu, paint a very encouraging picture of the outcome of the state’s response strategy.
“We will continue to fine-tune our efforts and strategies to build on our successes and close any existing gaps,” he said.
Governor Sanwo-Olu in his 17th update on COVID-19 made it known that the state is partnering its response strategy after Mumbai, India which, like Lagos, is a densely populated mega-city with similar demographic and climatic conditions.
Giving an update of the coronavirus pandemic as at July 31, 2020, he pointed out that the state had a total of 15,150 confirmed cases of COVID-19, out of which 10,835 persons have recovered and have been discharged, while 194 persons have lost their lives to the virus in the state.
He said the state is left with 1,813 active cases and 96 under management across various isolation centres.
While noting that the state remains the epicenter of the pandemic in Nigeria, he stated that it has set a national example in terms of efficiency of testing, tracing, treatment and partnerships with the private sector and the federal government, stressing that “Most of our patients in Lagos recover under our supervision.”
Explaining further, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the state has two pathways through which confirmed cases are managed, which include home-based strategy, or in designated COVID care centres.
The people in the home care category, he said, “Are being supported medically with COVID Care Packs, and psychologically through counselling teams available via our Call Centre 08000CORONA.
“In addition, these individuals are given access to our telemedicine services through the state-owned EKOTELEMED and are also visited weekly by our doctors to ensure that they are recovering adequately and in a timely fashion,” he said.
Commenting on isolation centres, the governor disclosed that the Eti-Osa isolation centre had since Friday night been shut down, disclosing that the Agidingbi isolation centre will also be shut down while all the patients would be moved to Indo-Centre, which will soon be commissioned.