Lagos may soon exceed capacity of isolation centres —Commissioner

Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, says the capacity of the isolation facilities in the state will soon be exceeded as the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients increases daily.

Speaking on Wednesday at a health webinar organised by Medic West Africa, Abayomi said the reason Lagos State is bringing in the private sector into the COVID-19 containment, as well as introducing home-based care, was because the number of cases will soon exceed the capacity of the Lagos State isolation centre.

He said though Lagos State had been expanding isolation facilities by opening new wards, the increase in testing capacity and more number of positive cases had shown that the isolation centres will not be able to cope with the number of patients.

“The number of positive cases through our improved testing is going to exceed the number we can isolate in our isolation centres.

“We are also discharging, but through our modelling, we know we are going to exceed our isolation capacity sooner than later.

“So, we are bringing in the private sector and trying to define a strategy of home-based care. We are also training workers at primary care level.

“We shall start to slowly roll out community-based care in a way that is going to provide integrated care.

“It is still going to be isolation, but it will be a form of decentralised form of isolation in an environment that can manage infection prevention and control in a way that we are satisfied with. That is our approach,” Abayomi said.

The commissioner stated further that majority of the COVID-19 patients in Lagos, so far, have mild infections and no co-morbidity, adding that very few have severe symptoms.

He said this was the reason most of the patients spend between 10 to 15 days in isolation facilities before they are discharged.

PUNCH