‘12 of 14 Lagos COVID-19 deaths occurred in private hospitals’

• State says only three local councils don’t have Coronavirus
• Claims it has less than 40 ventilators for patients
• ‘Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Lagos Mainland highly infected’
• Nurses laments shortage of PPEs

Lagos State government yesterday said that the state had recorded 14 deaths from the COVID-19 out of which only two died in its facilities, while others died in private hospitals and also on their way to the state facilities.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who disclosed this yesterday while providing update on efforts by the state government to contain the pandemic, said the state government was being proactive because it was better to be over-prepared than to be under-prepared.

Abayomi also said that new isolation centres were being built to add more bed spaces aside the hotel facilities that had been provided by the state government that would be converted to isolation centres.

He implored residents that have symptoms of COVID-19 not to stay at home, as it complicates issues.

The commissioner, who stated that only three of the 20 local councils in Lagos State have not recorded a single case of Coronavirus, said there were no cases of the virus in Ojo, Epe and Ajeromi-Ifelodun local councils while Eti-Osa, Lagos Mainland and Ikeja were the three local councils with the highest cases of COVID-19.

He said that if not for the multiplicity of strategies deployed by the state government, there would have been hundreds of cases daily, adding that if the state had done nothing, by now, Lagos would have recorded 6,000 positive cases of COVID-19.

He, therefore, sought more support and co-operation from residents, especially on practising social distancing, saying that community engagement that include residents practising social distancing had greatly helped in containing the spread of the virus.

Abayomi, who said that Lagos State had just between 30 and 40 ventilators though not all of them are designated for COVID-19 patients, disclosed that the state government had decentralised COVID-19 testing across local councils to bring testing opportunities closer to the people.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho said in the coming week, the state government enlightenment campaign would be aggressive, especially educating residents on the need to practise social distancing.

He said that the state government had observed that many residents do not practise social distancing, especially in markets.
In another development, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has lamented shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), as colleagues in Lagos have tested positive to Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The association, which claimed that most of the expected PPEs were not available for use, said nurses were being exposed to unnecessary risk with about 25 nurses on self-quarantine after being exposed to cases of COVID-19, while those who tested positive to the virus had presented themselves at the isolation centre for management.

In a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, NANNM, Lagos Chapter, Adenike Akinla, and made available to The Guardian, the association said that nurses were being subjected to hardship and diverse risks while performing their duties.