COVID-19: We may face shortage of isolation centres soon- Lagos

The Lagos State Government says if the state continues to record over 200 to 300 positive cases of COVID-19 on a daily basis, it will soon run out of isolation centers. 

The state has, therefore, stated that with the continued rise in the number of positive COVID-19 cases in the state, only moderate to severe cases will be managed at the isolation centers while the asymptomatic and mild cases will be managed at home. 

The state Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, said on Friday that modalities for the community based/home-based care would be defined as to who qualifies to be managed at home and those who will be managed at the isolation facility. 

He expressed fears that if the statecontinued to record over 200 to 300 positive cases on a daily basis, it would soon have nowhere to use as isolation centers. 

Abayomi said that the current situation necessitated the introduction of the home-based care in the next one or two weeks, adding that the community/home-based management would be introduced to reserve the isolation centres for the critically ill. 

He said, “We will be operating from the primary healthcare centers (PHCs) and that is where we will decide who qualifies to be managed at home or at isolation center. Part of the condition for being managed at home will be; is the home adequate? 

Is the person feeling unwell or having pre-existing medical condition or having difficulty breathing? 

“The answers to these and more will determine where the person will be treated for COVID-19.” 

The commissioner also stated that though there plans were on to recruit more manpower, volunteers who were being trained at the moment would be deployed for the home care management within a week or two.

He said, “For the mild/asymptomatic cases who will be managed at home, we will call them, our volunteers/PHC workers deployed for that purpose will visit them, we will ensure they have regular consultation through our telemedicine online care, and we will monitor their progress too. “At the same time, they will be given care packs and medications which includes pain killers and vitamins. 

“We will also give enough information to the masses on their safety as well as that of their families and neighbours during the home management period.” 

Abayomi further disclosed that the state government had made plans to increase the capacity of daily tests from 1,000 to 3,000, adding that Lagos had so far done over 22,000 tests.

He said that more tests were done, the more cases would be recorded, necessitating quick plan for more cases.

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