Lagos State Commissioner for
Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi has
said that the Chinese government
through her embassy in Nigeria is
working with Lagos State Govern-
ment to prevent the entry of Corona
Virus into the State.
Abayomi who disclosed this today
while giving update on the State
government’s level of preparedness
to prevent or contain any possible
entry of the disease as well as other
infectious diseases into Lagos said
the areas of cooperation includes the
issuing of advisory on travel between
China and Lagos and self-quarantine
of persons coming in from China
and other endemic countries espe-
cially from South-East Asia to Lagos.
The Commissioner noted that the
Chinese government has sent noti-
fication to her citizens to remain in
China until there is clarity about the
spread of the infection adding that
the Chinese government has also
instructed that their citizens who
choose to return to Nigeria should
be self-quarantined for 10 to 14days.
In his words, “We are very happy
with the cooperation we are receiv-
ing from the Chinese government.
We’ve had a very serious and high
level discussion with the Chinese
government through their embassy
in Lagos, our primary concern has
been the return of their citizens to
Lagos in a few days’ time and we
are happy to inform you that the
embassy of China is also concerned
about this, and they have sent out
information through notifications to
their citizens and companies located
in Lagos that their citizens should
try and remain in China until there
is clarity about how this infection is
going”.
“However, if some of them choose
to return, and we cannot restrict
people, if they do return to Lagos,
the instruction from the Chinese
Embassy is that they should be
quarantined for a period of 10 to
14 days in their houses, hostels and
accommodations”.
The Commissioner added that
officials of the Ministry of Health
would meet with associations
business men in Lagos particularly
those who make use the China-Ni-
geria trade routes to advise them
on their travels to Asian countries
particularly China and educate them
on precautionary measures against
contacting the disease.
Abayomi while outlining strategies
and plans that have been put in place
by the State government to prevent
or contain possible outbreak averred
that Lagos is particularly vulnerable
and susceptible to an entry of the
virus because the large trading pop-
ulation between Nigeria and China,
large number of Nigerians travelling
back and forth on the Lagos-China
trading route and the large number
of Chinese citizens living in Lagos or
using the State as a point of entry.
He noted also that the peculiar
nature of the State due to its very
high dense population, many high
density residential locations and a
significant number of slums also
makes it become particularly vulner-
able to outbreak spread of infectious
diseases.
“Lagos is also particularly vulner-
able because of its peculiar nature;
it is the largest megacity in Africa,
it has a very high dense population
and it has many high density resi-
dential locations and a significant
number of slums and therefore it
becomes particularly vulnerable to
outbreak spread and it our duty to
ensure that we put all strategies in
place to try and prevent the entry or
the spread of the virus in our com-
munities”, the Commissioner said.
Abayomi explained that the State
government recently activated an
Emergency Operation Centre (EOC)
which is the command and control
Center to coordinate operational
information and resources for stra-
tegic management of emergencies
in preparation against infectious
diseases.
He disclosed also that citizens are
being sensitized on precautionary
measures against the spread of the
infection as well as other infec-
tious disease through circulation of
various messages for behavioural
modification.
He revealed that the Biosafety labo-
ratory located at the Lagos Mainland
Hospital, built to ensure effective
management of infectious diseases
has fully commenced operations. He
added also surveillance activities are
being intensified across the state to
fast track the diagnosis and manage-
ment of infectious diseases whenev-
er they occur.
“We have recently activated an
Emergency Operation Centre to
fast-track the management and di-
agnosis of any outbreak of infectious
disease. We are also ramping up
security in our bio security unit at
the Mainland Hospital designed to
cater for a large number of patients
with highly infectious diseases but in
case there is an overflow of patients,
we have in place contingency plans”,
the Commissioner said.
He explained that the second pillar
of the developmental agenda for a
greater Lagos promised by Gov-
ernor Sanwo-Olu as espoused in
his T.H.E.M.E.S agenda which put
health and environment in the same
category is very important because
most of the dangerous pathogens are
kind of zoonotic infections which
comes from the food chain and
environment to infect people.
Signed
Tunbosun Ogunbanwo
Director, Public Affairs
29th January, 2020
