Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has expressed confidence in the response approach initiated by the state Incident Command Centre to tackle the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Sanwo-Olu said this on Sunday when he visited the state-owned bio-security and containment facility at Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba, where the Italian diagnosed with Coronavirus is being managed.
The governor expressed optimism that with the measures put in place, the nation would survive the epidemic and put it behind.
According to him, the state remains committed to every effort geared toward preventing the human-to-human transmission of the virus.
He said both the state and Federal Government healthcare officials had been working round the clock with infectious disease control professionals from the international agencies to ensure the counter- measures being deployed to contain the virus achieved the desired results.
”I am very delighted with the level of preparedness and our response to stop coronavirus from spreading in our country.
”The kind of structures we have put in place and the strategies being deployed have raised my confidence that the nation, at the end of the day, will win this battle and will put it behind,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor said that the state had already upgraded its isolation facilities at the IDH in the case of escalation in the number of cases.
Sanwo-Olu said that two additional containment centres had been created with 80-bed spaces and necessary medical equipment to manage cases.
”Also, there are two mobile isolation wards of 15-bed capacity each stationed in the hospital.
”And, outside of that, we also have five of our big general hospitals that we are going to be preparing, in the event that we just have in a wider number of patients that we need to deal with, so we are indeed very ready and we do the testing here,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu, however, frowned at the misinformation trailing the COVID-19 case being managed at the IDH, saying that the public deserved to get accurate information about the management of the patient in isolation.
He urged the media to approach the appropriate quarters for updates and developments on the case being managed.
”Our citizens need to be calmed and assured that the professionals deployed to handle the virus outbreak are constantly on the ground to do it.
”The media should communicate and give an accurate report to our citizens to let them know that authorities and the professionals that need to be on the ground are working tirelessly to curtail virus,” the governor said.
The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said that the state had deployed three levels of counter- measures to stop the spread of the virus, which included medical, security and research.
Abayomi said that Lagos and Ogun Governments were constantly exchanging information, following the outbreak, as the movement of the index case had necessitated more cooperation between the two states.
”We are always in a state of extreme readiness and one step ahead of the virus. We are doing everything within our power to break the cycle of transmission of the virus in our land,” he said.