It was a shocker for many Nigerians yesterday night after the latest figures of Coronavirus cases announced by the NCDC rose to 627 with 86 people newly testing positive. Particularly, 70 of those 86 people are domiciled in Lagos. This is a record number of cases in a day in Lagos state which has rapidly grown to become the epicentre of the Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, in Nigeria.
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However, on the heels of the rather discouraging news was the announcement earlier in the day that at least a testing centre each has been set up and opened in all the local government areas in the state. In fact, Alimosho local government got 3 testing centres.
Only 3 Local governments, Ajeromi/Ifelodun, Epe, and Ojo are without any cases yet. Whereas, the cases in Alimosho – the largest local government in Lagos – is beginning to be of concern to health authorities.
In its effort with contact tracing and case search within active communities where the virus is beginning to establish itself, the Lagos State Ministry of Health (LSMOH) also reported that the COVID-19 search teams have so far visited 1,122,497 households. Out of this, 1,074 patients presented with related symptoms in these communities and 29 patients with respiratory distress have identified from which 3 of those cases tested positive.
So far, a total of 306 persons have tested positive for the virus in Lagos with 93 (30%) of them already recovered and discharged from the isolation center. But with 14 people dead, the death rate which stands at 4.5% is far higher than the world average recorded in other cities globally.
This is why the Lagos state government, the Federal Government, NCDC, LSMOH and other stakeholders have their work cut out for them to ensure that their strategy for fighting COVID-19 is effective.
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Though businesses, schools, events and other activities within the state remain shut, as near-normal activities continue to occur, the virus may keep on spreading and the number of cases discovered daily may keep sky-rocketing. Despite the frantic effort by health officials to ramp up testing and keep the rate at which the virus is spreading within these communities to the barest minimum, there are indications that many Lagosians keep flouting the lockdown directives and are going about their business without care anymore.
The one week left in the announced shutdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states should be adequately utilized towards cutting down the number of daily novel cases of the coronavirus. Collective effort is what the people resident in Lagos state and the government itself should focus on and work out things within the remainder of the window – or they may begin to witness a fatal and exponential growth in the number of coronavirus cases in the state and in Nigeria.
Featured Image Source: The New Humanitarian
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