We now know how to treat COVID-19 — Sanwo-Olu

Lagos doctors now know how to handle COVID-19, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said.

Sanwo-Olu made the claim after paying a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday.

“We understand the virus more than how we did eight to 10 months ago, so we know what treatment should be,” Sanwo-Olu told journalists.

“We are better positioned for that.”

The governor also raised alarm about what he said is a “disturbing” increase in positive coronavirus tests.

“We are also doing a lot more testing in Lagos than we were doing five to six months ago. We are doing almost 2,500 to 3,000 tests every day, so we are watching the rate of positivity that we have, which is also high,” he said.

“It has moved from the usual 10 to 12 per cent and we are now seeing positivity rate of about 25 and sometimes 30 per cent. That is actually very disturbing.”

But Sanwo-Olu assured that his government was doing all it could to address the COVID-19 challenge. The governor said his administration has built about 10 oxygen plants and commissioned about four and provided other facilities in public buildings to meet the respiratory requirements posed by severe coronavirus cases.

“We have seen, unfortunately, the fatality rate around the country, even in Lagos,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“One of the things we have realised is that a lot more people require oxygen attention, they need additional breathing aid.

“So, we have started building what we call oxygen tent, oxygen facilities; we are building about 10 of such facilities.

“We have commissioned about four of them and we are also building additional two oxygen plants in the state so that we can meet the respiratory requirements,” he said.