COVID-19: Sanwo-Olu Announces Worry Over Third Wave

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu says there is a potential third wave of COVID-19 cases in Lagos State.

Gatekeepers News reports that the governor, through a press statement, expressed concern over the increasing cases of the virus in the state on Sunday.

Sanwo-Olu said isolation centres in the state have recorded a five per cent increase in occupancy in two weeks.

He explained that as of July 7, Lagos State had recorded a total of 60,202 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Of this number, 55,135 have recovered in-community and 770 are currently being managed actively in the community.

He noted that “about 4,382 patients have been admitted into our various COVID-19 care centres in Lagos: with 357 registered fatalities.”

He added that “Starting around the end of March 2021, the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic in Lagos State began to wind down, and we began to enjoy some reprieve from the worst effects of the virus. This allowed us to further open-up the economy to allow the start of the journey towards full normalcy in our lives and the pursuit of livelihoods, after what has been a very difficult year.

“Regrettably, in spite of the hard work and dedicated efforts towards sustaining the return to normalcy, over the last three months, we are now finding ourselves at what appears to be the start of a potential third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Lagos State.

“From the beginning of July, we started to experience a steep increase in the number of daily confirmed cases, with the test positivity rate going from 1.1% at the end of June 2021 to its current rate of 6.6% as at 8th of July 2021.

“The rapid increase within a week gives great cause for concern. Also, within the last two weeks, the occupancy rate at our two isolation centres increased from an average of one per cent to sic per cent.

“This is the new and disturbing reality that now confronts us. But we must not be demoralised by this. We must instead resolve that we will not leave any stone unturned in our bid to effectively mitigate the third wave of this pandemic in Lagos State.

“As you all know, Lagos has been the epicentre of the pandemic since the start, and the way we manage it here has a significant impact and reverberating effect on the national outlook and outcomes.”