COVID-19: Lagos begins home-based treatment of patients in two weeks

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, says the state home-based treatment for COVID-19 patients will begin in the next two to three weeks.
Abayomi made this known on Friday in Lagos while giving the state’s COVID-19 update.
He said that the strategies for home/community-based management of COVID-19 patients would be defined and start soon.
The commissioner said that the move was to enable the state government concentrate on patients critically sick and to reduce pressure on bed spaces at isolation facilities.
He maintained that the state would engage stakeholders and enlighten them with relevant information and knowledge about treating infected people in their communities.
According to him, patients that are asymptomatic and those with mild symptoms will qualify for home based treatment, while those with moderate to severe symptoms will be treated at isolation centres.
The commissioner said the patients that would be managed at home would be monitored through telemedicine.
According to him, they would also be given COVID-19 packs containing medication, thermometer for temperature measurement and tools to check their oxygen level.
Abayomi, however, stressed that if the condition of any home-based patient “takes a turn for the worse, such patients would be quickly transferred to an isolation facility”.
He said that the state has enough volunteers, thus increasing its manpower to ensure the success of the community-based treatment.
On why the state’s fatality rate for COVID-19 had increased, Abayomi said the fatality rate was still low, adding that it was about one per cent of the state’s confirmed cases.
The commissioner disclosed that the state had accredited three private hospitals that met its biosecurity requirements for the management of COVID-19 patients.
He added that one of the hospitals had commenced treatment of patients, while the remaining two would also commence treatment soon.
Abayomi noted that the state had ramped up its testing capacity, and was currently conducting one thousand COVID-19 test daily, with plans to increase the test to two thousands daily soon.
He added that over 22,000 COVID-19 tests had been done in the state since it recorded its index case.
“The more we test suspected cases, the more we find confirmed COVID-19 cases,” the commissioner said.
He, however, urged the public not to be alarmed with its increasing number of daily infections, saying it was proof of the state’s increased testing capacity.
Abayomi appealed to residents to continue to take responsibility by maintaining respiratory
hygiene, physical distancing and wearing of face masks while in public places.