Covid-19: 250,000 at risk of dying; Lagos prepares for another lockdown

No fewer than 259 Lagosians came down with Covid-19 on Friday, a worrying figure that made the state government threaten another lockdown if things go out of hand as Lagosians refuse to adhere to social distancing and other guidelines.

According to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, though the state has been able to draw a balance between the public health crisis and citizens’ livelihoods, the government would not hesitate to impose another lockdown if the situation worsens.

“We are in the middle of the outbreak and we have not even peaked yet, and so the cases are still rising. We still expect to see a lot more cases in the next one month or two,” said Abayomi.

He noted Lagoians are already having a false sense of security since most cases of infections are mild to moderate.

“While that may be so, between three and five per cent of Lagosians that catch this infection have an extremely severe to critical form of COVID-19 and the risk of dying in that percentage is extremely high.

“Two to five per cent may seem like a small percentage, but even one per cent of 25 million people is a lot of Lagosians. We are not prepared to lose 250,000 Lagosians and we certainly will not even like to contemplate that number.”

He appealed to Lagosians, especially those over the age of 50 or 55 with underlying medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity or any other medical condition that interferes with their immune system.

“The young people may be going out there with mild to moderate disease but they certainly go home in the evening and expose their parents and grandparents to the vulnerabilities,” he said.

“So I appeal to Lagosians, keep practising the social distancing measures and I hope these practices will help to flatten the curve and protect certain vulnerable members of the community.”

Local government areas with the highest number of cases were Eti-Osa, Alimosho, Kosofe, Ikeja, Oshodi, Surulere and Lagos Mainland

Fresh 684 COVID-19 cases were recorded in 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory on Friday by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, bringing the total number of cases to 23,298.