The Lagos state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has said home-based treatment for Covid-19 patients “will begin in the next two to three weeks.”
Abayomi disclosed this Friday in Lagos while giving the state’s Covid-19 update.
He said the strategies for home/community-based management of Covid-19 patients would be defined and scheduled to “start soon.”
The commissioner said the move was to enable the state government to concentrate on patients that were critically sick and to reduce pressure on bed spaces at the isolation facilities.
He said the state would engage stakeholders and enlighten them with relevant information and knowledge about treating infected people in their communities.
According to him, patients that are asymptomatic and those with mild symptoms will qualify for home based treatment, while those with moderate to severe symptoms will be treated at the isolation centres.
The commissioner said the patients that would be managed at home would be monitored through telemedicine.
Abayomi, however, stressed that if the condition of any home-based patient “takes a turn for the worse, such patients would be quickly transferred to an isolation facility.”
On whether or not the state’s fatality rate for Covid-19 had increased, Abayomi said the fatality rate was still low, adding that it was about one per cent of the state’s confirmed cases.
The commissioner disclosed that the state had accredited three private hospitals that met its bio-security requirements for the management of Covid-19 patients.
He said one of the hospitals had begun treatment of patients, while the remaining two would also commence treatment soon.
Abayomi said the state had ramped up its testing capacity, and was currently conducting 1, 000 Covid-19 tests daily, with plans to increase the test to two thousands daily soon.
He appealed to residents to continue to take responsibility by maintaining respiratory hygiene, physical distancing, and wearing of face masks while in public places.
