COVID-19: More states to introduce stringent protocols over spread of Delta variant
By Moses Adeniyi
Following the discovery of the delta variant among recent confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in Nigeria, State Governments in the Country has begun move towards reawakening and introducing new stringent protocols to mitigate the spread of a third wave of the virus.
Signals of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to show forth following an upsurge in the number of cases testing positive in the past two weeks.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had last Thursday confirmed a case with the highly transmissible COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant, also known as lineage B.1.617.2.
The Head of Communications, NCDC, Dr Yahya Disu, who announced the development, had in a statement last Thursday, said the variant was detected in a traveler to Nigeria, following the routine travel test required of all international travelers and genomic sequencing at the NCDC National Reference Laboratory, Abuja.
According to Disu, the Delta variant is recognised by the World Health Organisation, WHO, as a variant of concern, given its increased transmissibility.
Update report on Friday by the NCDC had showed that 186 new cases recorded in three States were confirmed, of which Lagos State topped the chart by reporting 175 out of the new cases.
Meanwhile, the NCDC data shows that a total of 164,323 recoveries have been made across the country so far while 1,897 cases are said to be active.
Following threats of the surge in recent cases testing positive and the discovery of the delta variant, State Governments are beginning to come up with stringent measures to awaken safety protocols against the third wave possibilities.
The Lagos State Government (LASG) on Sunday in a bid to reawaken safety protocols to mitigate an uncontrollable spread of the virus, reeled out new directives.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in an Update Statement, lamented that the State has once again begun to experience a steep increase in the number of daily confirmed cases, with the test positivity rate going from 1.1% at the end of June 2021 to its current rate of 6.6% as at 8th of July 2021.
The Governor who is the State’s Incident Commander for the COVID-19 management, regretted that “in spite of the hard work and dedicated efforts towards sustaining the return to normalcy, over the last three months, we are now finding ourselves at what appears to be the start of a potential 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Lagos State.”
Mentioning that the rapid increase within a week gives great cause for concern, he disclosed that, within the last two weeks, the occupancy rate at the State’s isolation centres increased from an average of 1% to 6%.
For air Travel Protocols for in-Bound Passengers between 8th May 2021 and 7th July 2021, records revealed that a total of 50,322 passengers of interest arrived in Lagos via the Murtala Mohammed Airport.
Of the 50,322 passengers, 18 percent could not be reached by EKOTELEMED because of the provision of either wrong numbers or wrong Nigerian contact details to be reached on.
On the new protocols on air Travels, the Governor declared that going forward, passengers that do not provide the right details, including a phone number they can be reached for monitoring and an address for isolation, will face serious sanctions including fines and imprisonment according to the Lagos State Coronavirus Law of 2021.
On sanctions against quarantine defaulters as dictated by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC), passengers from red-listed countries (India, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey) are required to observe mandatory isolation.
“So far, we have successfully isolated 2,386 passengers in Lagos State. Of this number, 15% have absconded. The following sanctions are being recommended and have already been meted out to defaulters:
“For Foreigners: Revocation of their Permanent Residency, and deportation; and; For Nigerians: Prosecution to the full extent of the Lagos State COVID-19 Law,” the directive read.
According to the Governor, greater vigilance is required for religious activities at this time in Churches and Mosques and other places of religious worship.
“Even as we are pleased that religious houses are now open for worship, after the lengthy closures of 2020, we must not allow ourselves to be carried away by the illusion that all is now back to normal,” he said.
“This is especially critical, as Sallah approaches, in a little over a week from now. The festivities will no doubt bring people together in large numbers and create conditions that can sadly cause the spread of the Coronavirus. We must not allow this to happen.
“For this reason, we are mandating full compliance with all protective protocols. Compulsory use of masks in all public places, Social distancing, Temperature checks, Provisions for hand-washing and sanitizers, and a maximum of 50 percent occupancy in enclosed spaces,” the Governor said.
