…as patients flee isolation centres
Coronavirus cases in Lagos State jumped to 1,667 with 176 new infections recorded on Friday.
On Thursday, Lagos had set a new record, raking in 183 Coronavirus infections, the highest any state has ramp up a single day.
The 176 new cases recorded by Lagos on Friday, made mockery of the 42 patients who recovered from the virus and were discharged by the state government.
The huge figures being recorded may not be unconnected with the premature easing of the Coronavirus lockdown which saw Lagosians trooping out in thousands, without maintaining social distancing.
However, Lagos could boast that it has successfully managed and discharged 448 Coronavirus cases, but it has a mountain to climb, with 1,186 active Coronavirus cases to deal with.
Earlier in the day, Commissioner for Health in Lagos, Prof. Akin Abayomi had said the state may record between 90,000 and 120,000 cases of Coronavirus by July or August when it reaches the peak.
Abayomi, spoke Friday at a news conference in Alausa, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, where he gave an update on Coronavirus in the State.
He said the state was yet to reach the virus peak, which will likely be around July and August.
Abayomi stated that Lagos has ramped up testings to reach large number of people in a bid to flatten the curve.
He attributed the increase in cases being recorded to the decentralisation of sample collection to the 20 Local Governments.
Abayomi disclosed that Alimosho, Oshodi and Isolo have begun to record more COVID-19 cases.
He, however, noted that 97 percent of positive cases at its isolation centres were mild and moderate cases.
Only three percent were severe cases.
Meanwhile, the state government has lamented that some people who tested positive for Coronavirus have fled their homes when government officials came to take them to isolation centres.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi disclosed this on Friday.
He said some people who tested positive would run away from their homes once they discovered their status and that some even switched off their phones.
Abayomi added that some positive patients would shut their doors against government officials and leave the environment because they were afraid of being isolated.
He appealed to Lagosians who tested positive not to run away but to cooperate with government officials.
In his words: “There is also a situation that we experience, when we test people, sometimes they find it difficult to find them. The ambulances will go into community, people will flee their homes, and they make it difficult for us to find them.”
“If you have tested positive, we expect you to cooperate with us and make yourself available so that you can be admitted and accessed.
“Our isolation facilities are really comfortable, it is not like the Ebola days, we have made a lot of improvements.
“Members of the executive and senior people in government have been admitted into those facilities. If I test positive, I will go to one of those facilities.”
