BY Samuel Akpan
The Lagos government says 135 deaths have been recorded in the state amid the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, disclosed this on Monday during a media briefing on the COVID situation in the state.
On July 11, Sanwo-Olu had warned Lagos residents of a third wave of infections, following an increase in the number of cases recorded in the state.
Meanwhile, on August 2, the federal government declared that Nigeria was experiencing a third wave of infections.
Speaking at the briefing on Monday, Sanwo-Olu said since the start of the pandemic, 5,551 positive cases have been admitted at COVID isolation centres in Lagos.
“We are now clearly in the middle of third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and Lagos has remained the epicentre of the disease in Nigeria,” he said.
“Test positivity rate currently stands at 12.1 percent, compared to 1.1 percent at the end of June, and seven percent at end of July. As at August 21, 4,387 positive cases are currently being managed actively in community.
“Over the course of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, about 5,551 patients have been admitted into our various COVID-19 care centres in Lagos, with 506 registered fatalities. Of these deaths, 135 have sadly, happened in this current third wave.
“I commiserate with all residents who have lost loved ones to the pandemic. We share in your pain and grief. As a society and as a government, it is for us to redouble our efforts to defeat this devastating pandemic.”
The governor said the state has seen a surge in severe cases, adding that the number of oxygen cylinders used rose from 75 per day to 400 within the third wave.
“In terms of treatment of severe cases, we have seen a gradual increase in the uptake of oxygen during the current wave. Utilisation has increased from 75 cylinders per day at the beginning of this third wave, to over 400 cylinders per day currently,” he said.
“With our modelling suggesting that we may be requiring even more oxygen supply over the next few weeks, we are exploring several ways of increasing our oxygen capacity.
“One of the major pillars of our mitigation strategy for the third wave is vaccination. We are seeing that countries that have vaccinated a large percentage of their population are recording drastic reductions in the numbers of COVID-19 related deaths.
“This is one of the reasons why we have not spared any cost to ensure that the vaccines that have been provided by the federal government are made available to every resident that meets the requirements for the vaccination programme.”
According to the state ministry of health, Lagos has, so far, confirmed a total of over 70,000 positive cases.
However, more than 60,000 recoveries have been recorded — over 80 percent of the recoveries were recorded outside the state’s isolation centres.
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