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Lagos Discharges 33 More COVID-19 Patients, Total Recoveries Reach 502

Thirty-three more COVID-19 patients in Lagos have recovered and have now been discharged.


A file photo of the Commissioner for Health in Lagos, Professor Akin Abayomi. Photo: Twitter-@ProfAkinAbayomi
A file photo of the Commissioner for Health in Lagos, Professor Akin Abayomi. Photo: Twitter-@ProfAkinAbayomi

 

Thirty-three more COVID-19 patients in Lagos have recovered and have now been discharged.

This brings the total number of recoveries in the state to 502, according to the Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi in a tweet on Tuesday.

 

502 recoveries represent 26 per cent of the total infections in the state which stood at 1,933 as of May 11.

Read Also: Nigeria Reports 242 New COVID-19 Cases, Total Infections Now 4,641

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had reported 242 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing its total infections in the country to 4,641.

Of the 242 cases, 88 were discovered in Lagos which remains the epicenter of the virus in the country.

As the state and the country at large, continue to battle the virus, there have been calls for the government to improve testing capacity even as the rate of community spread has been on the rise.

On Saturday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the current laboratory testing capacity for the state is 850 persons per day.

According to the governor, this can, however, be expanded to about 1,500 to 2,000 daily with the availability of adequate extraction kits.

To achieve this, the said the state has paid for over 20,000 extraction kits and has placed an order for another 20,000 in its bid to test at least 120,000 in the next 60 days.

He also noted that the state has commenced a biweekly procurement of laboratory needs “to prevent running out of these materials going forward, until at least 120,000 tests are done in about 2 months”.

Speaking further, governor Sanwo-Olu urged residents to take responsibility and obey social distancing measures, failure of which he said the government will review the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown currently being implemented.

“The gradual easing of this lockdown is dependent upon the compliance of each and every one of us, which is to #TakeResponsbility,” he said.

“As a government elected to uphold the security of its citizens, which includes health security, let me make it clear that we will not hesitate to review the terms of this easing if we do not see an improvement in the next couple of days. People have to take responsibility.”

The Governor reiterated guidelines such as the use of face masks in public, noting that the measures are designed to keep people safe.