LASG Gives Update On Coronavirus, Tasks Citizens On Personal Hygiene

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has confirmed that the corona virus patient currently in the Yaba Mainland Hospital is doing very well and the state is very satisfied with his condition.

Briefing journalists after a stakeholders’ meeting on Corona Virus at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja, on Monday, Prof. Abayomi assured that as soon as the patient recovers, he will be released to go back to his country, Italy.

Prof. Abyomi noted that the state health officials are exercising extreme caution by finding out where all those who came in contact with the Italian are, adding: “However in the time that he was there, it was possible that he may have transferred the virus to someone else. From the airline to the hotel that he stayed in to the factory that he went to work in Ogun State, we have identified most of those people. We are still looking for some more people and we are quarantining them to check them for 14 days.”

Giving an update on those the Italian came in contact with, Prof. Abayomi said: “There were 159 passengers on the aircraft, six people came into contact with him at the airport, 35 people came in contact with him at the factory, and two drivers and an ambulance driver. We have managed to identify all those people except some on the aircraft who have either gone back to Europe or gone to other states, or other countries, or given us false information in their forms. We are still trying to find the remaining passengers in that aircraft. Everyday we are finding more and more, so our contact list now is over 100. And it is increasing everyday.”

The Lagos State Health Commissioner stated that those who met the carrier “are staying either in medical facilities or at home and we call them twice a day just to check that they are okay. If they develop symptoms then, we bring them to our facility in Lagos to run a test.

“The reason we are doing that is because we don’t want to give the virus the opportunity to spread from person to person, which will then be the beginning of an outbreak. So we are trying our best to break the outbreak opportunity.”

Prof. Abayomi stated that at presently, the state health officials “have been testing a few suspicious cases. In fact, we tested two yesterday (Sunday) and they both tested negative, both from Ogun State. We are happy to tell our counterparts from Ogun State, the Commissioner for Health, that the two cases he sent to us were negative. We are very much in the lookout for suspects.”

To stay free from contracting the virus, Prof. Abayomi advised Lagos residents to practise good personal health, hygiene, as well as observe frequent hand-washing.

“When you want to wash your hands, wash them with soaps, at least 20 seconds with running water or use a hand sanistiser that has alcohol in it. Avoid frequent contacts, I know we are used to shaking hands but you don’t need to shake everyone’s hands. Just say hello. Until we know what is going on, we rather that people reduce the amount of body contact,” he advised.

The Health Commissioner said that the meeting was to convene major stakeholders such as local government chairmen, the Community Development Council chairmen and medical officers of health at the primary health care level.

Recall that a gentleman that came from Italy passed through Lagos on his way to Ewekoro, Ogun State and was eventually brought back to Lagos for diagnosis and treatment in our specialized facility.

Noting that Lagos State index of suspicion is very high, Prof. Abayomi said that the state has alerted all its medical facilities both public and private to be very cautious about anyone who presents with fever, cough, cold, with difficulty breathing, with diarrhea or with body pains. “Make sure you know what you are dealing with, check for malaria before you start treatment, check for typhoid before you begin treatment, if it not malaria or typhoid, and the person has travelled out of the c