Iwu: Coronavirus not a death sentence; Lagos discharges 26 more patients; Osun confirms three fresh cases

Prof. Maurice Iwu, Chairman, Imo COVID-19 Task Force, says that Coronavirus is not a death sentence as long as people take precautionary measures instructed by public health authorities.
Iwu made the assertion when members of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) COVID-19 Team, led by Dr Victor Dike, paid him a courtesy visit in his office on Wednesday in Owerri.
He noted that 90 per cent of virus diseases that affected people were not medical but hygiene induced.
“Viral infection is a health condition and not a medical condition and so there is need to separate the two,” he said.
Iwu commended the NMA for the solidarity visit, adding that the success recorded so far was as a result of their input and support.
He noted that the task force had three major approach to containing the spread of the virus in the state.
These included communication, education and protection, urging all Imo people to get involved.
He said the medical personel had a duty to communicate to and educate members of the public on what the virus was all about and how to conduct their lives in order not to contract it.
The taskforce chairman said the protection aspect raised some conceptional issues, hence the need for isolation centres.
“Coronavirus is real but not a death sentence.
“There are three vulnerable groups that we have to pay attention to and these are the older people, those with low immune system, and those in the healthcare sector so they will not fall victims at the end,” he said.
Earlier, Dike told Iwu that they were in his office to partner with the team in the fight against COVID-19.
He said there was need to inform Imo people on the status of the index cases in the state and for more aggressive communication in the rural areas on COVID-19.
Dike also called for enhanced welfare for the state’s health workers whom, he said, were being owed some arrears of salaries.
In another development, Iwu called on Imo people to strengthen existing infrastructure in the state and contribute toward containing the spread of COVID-19.
Iwu made the call when Trustees of the Imo Guild of Elders paid him a courtesy call in his office in Owerri.
He noted that the virus could only be contained through a focused and determined leadership and urged the elders to educate people that the virus is not a dead sentence but a disease that could be cured.
According to him, COVID-19 is avoidable and calls for more surveillance and monitoring among people in the communities especially on new entrances into the community or villages.
The Imo Guild of Elders led by Mr Charles Ugwu, a former Minister and Industralist, said the visit was to ascertain the progress so far made in containing the spread of the virus in the state and how they could be of help.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government, on Wednesday,  announced the recovery and discharge of 26 more patients who tested negative twice to the Coronavirus.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said in a statement that the total number of COVID-19 patients discharged had become 528.
‘Good people of Lagos, today, 26 COVID-19 Lagos patients; 13 males and 13 females, all Nigerians,  were discharged from our Yaba, Onikan and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Isolation facilities to reunite with the society.
‘The patients, six from the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, 11 from Onikan and nine from LUTH Isolation Centres were discharged,  haven fully recovered and tested negative to COVID-19 in two consecutive readings.
‘With this, the number of #COVID-19 confirmed cases that have been successfully managed and discharged in Lagos state is now 528,” he said.
In Osun State, the government has confirmed three new cases of coronavirus.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Rafiu Isamotu, in a statement on Wednesday in Osogbo, said that the new cases were contacts of previously confirmed cases in the state.
Isamotu added that the new cases had increased the active cases in the state to seven.
“Samples of the new cases were taken during the contact tracing we embarked upon and sent for confirmation test at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control-accredited testing centre in Ede.
“The results of their samples came back positive this afternoon (Wednesday).
“The detection of the three cases brings to seven the number of active COVID-19 cases in Osun, as at May 13.
“The three new cases have been admitted at our isolation and treatment centre,” Isamotu said.
The state has 41 cases of coronavirus, as confirmed by NCDC, with 31 already treated and discharged, while three had died.