Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has raised alarm as COVID-related fatalities confirm the third wave of the pandemic in Lagos State.
Mr. Sanwo-Olu, who spoke at the State House in Alausa on Monday, confirmed that the state has recorded a daily average of six deaths at its isolation centres in the last week.
According to him, from the last week in July into August, the positivity rate in Lagos rose to 8.9 percent, with frightening figures of hospitalisations and fatalities.
The governor also disclosed that there had been an eight-fold increase in infection rate, resulting in 4,300 confirmed cases in July alone, while 352 patients were admitted into state-run isolation facilities.
Sanwo-Olu said the situation calls for improved vigilance and personal responsibility, urging the residents to reactivate preventive protocols to break the cycle of infection currently ravaging the state.
“From the beginning of July, we started to experience an increase in the number of daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Lagos, with the positivity rate going to from seven percent at the end of July.
“As of August 1, the positivity rate rises to 8.9 percent, which is an eight-fold increase over the recorded figure a month ago.
“This has resulted in 4,300 confirmed cases in July alone and 352 admissions into our isolation facilities.
“Essentially, we have recorded on average six deaths per day since last week. The situation at hand should rightly alarm all of us.
“Let me make it clear that this necessary sense of alarm should not be responded to with panic, but instead with firm resolve and determination to reverse the trend.
“We must dig deep into what we have learnt from the previous waves, as well as summon the will to do everything necessary in bringing down the numbers to eventually defeat the virus once and for all.
“We have done it before and we can do it again,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The governor also expressed concern on the low vaccination rate in the state, pointing out that 161,040 out of the 404,414 residents who got the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine administered in March did not return for their second doses.
He put the vaccination rate in Lagos as one percent, which is far below the threshold set by the state to achieve herd immunity.
