TheCable

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, has asked residents of the state to ensure strict adherence to the COVID protocol, considering the recent increase in the number of infections and deaths.

He stated this on Monday, while giving an update on the COVID situation in the state.

According to the governor, a daily average of six deaths have been recorded in isolation centres within the past week, while over 4,000 new infections were confirmed in July.

“As at August 1, the positivity rate rose to 8.9 percent, which is an eight-fold increase over the recorded figure a month ago. This has resulted in 4,300 confirmed cases in July alone and 352 admissions into our isolation facilities. Essentially, we have recorded on average six deaths per day since last week. The situation at hand should rightly alarm all of us,” he said.

“Let me make it clear that this necessary sense of alarm should not be responded to with panic, but instead with firm resolve and determination to reverse the trend. We must dig deep into what we have learnt from the previous waves, as well as summon the will to do everything necessary in bringing down the numbers to eventually defeat the virus once and for all. We have done it before and we can do it again.

“We have incontrovertible evidence that wearing face masks help in slowing down the spread of the virus, particularly the now more dominant strains. We are no longer inexperienced, as we have learnt a lot in 18 months into the pandemic.

“We have been able to finetune our strategies and response, and we are now in a good place to ensure that this third wave is the final one. But we must put in the work, the compliance, the regard for rules and restrictions.”

The governor, who lamented that the vaccination rate in Lagos is one percent, added that it is below the threshold set by the state to achieve herd immunity.

He said 161,040 out of the 404,414 residents, who got the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine in March, did not return for their second doses.

Sanwo-Olu, however, said those who received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as their first dose, will not be offered the Moderna brand — the federal government, on Sunday, received 4.08 million doses of the Moderna COVID vaccine from the United States.

“The Moderna vaccine cannot be mixed with AstraZeneca. For people who have already taken the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, they cannot mix it with the Moderna vaccine that has just been received,” he said.

“We are still expecting second allocation of AstraZeneca vaccine before the end of August to vaccinate those who are yet to get the second shots. The distribution strategy would be based on appointment to avoid the exercise becoming a super spreader.”