By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Lagos State Government has placed all emergency facilities in the state on alert to pick up early trends that may suggest a fresh wave.
Lagos state Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi said this on Monday, while announcing the impending third wave of the pandemic and the measures taken for the preventions in the state.
Abayomi, said the measures became expedient as the trigger for the third wave in Lagos is likely to be the importation of new COVID strains from inbound travellers, the Vanguard reports.
According to him, on the authority of Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, immediate measures to fully enforce the protocol just announced by the Federal Government would be adopted for every inbound person which includes banning entry to non-Nigerian passengers who have been in Brazil, India or Turkey in the last fortnight due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus in those three nations.
Currently, countries like India, Brazil, Argentina, Iraq, Qatar, Peru, and Uruguay are being ravaged by a vicious third or fourth wave following a less active and insignificant second or third wave.
Abayomi said: “Lagos State is set to take steps to prevent another wave of COVID-19, following the flattening of the second wave.
“We are seeing a significant dip in the number of positive cases and deaths – going by the low occupancy rate in our isolation centers, reduction in the demand for oxygen, and the positivity rate that has decreased from around an all-time high 35 per cent in December 2020 to 1.5. per cent as at April 2021.
“It is important to reiterate at this point that passengers are still required to be in receipt of a negative COVID-19 PCR test at least 72hours before departure to and landing in Lagos State, book and pay for their day 7 test either through the National portal nitp.ncdc.gov.ng and/or the Lagos State portal covid19.lagosstatebiobank.com.
“All passengers must have paid for their tests before arrival in Lagos State. Failure to do this will result in delays at the airport.
“Nigerians and permanent residents of Nigeria who have been in those countries in the last 14 days will have to undergo mandatory quarantine for a week in a government-approved facility on arrival and all passengers arriving in Nigeria will now have to show a negative Covid-19 test taken within 72 hours of travel rather than the previous 96 hours period.
“As part of these protocols, passengers are to mandatorily isolate for the required seven days and will be strictly monitored through phone calls by our EKOTELEMED platform and physical visits to the passengers’ homes by our surveillance teams.”
