Covid-19: Hotels, Schools To Be Used For Isolation Centers- FG
Oluwafemi Fasoyin, Lagos
In the cause of the pandemic, Nigerian Government has said hotels and schools will be used for isolation centers.
The Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, asked schools and hotels to be prepared.
The minister disclosed this during a press briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Thursday in Abuja
He said the government was reviewing the health sector specific advisories on re-opening the economy.
However, Nigeria presently has over 112 treatment and isolation centres in the 35 states and FCT with over 5,000 beds, but not all states have made it up to at least 300 beds prescribed for isolation and treatment.
Ehanire also disclosed that he commissioned one such center yesterday, a re-purposed hospital in Benin City, Edo State, with 300 beds, including ICU and an Edo State owned PCR testing laboratory.
Whereas we need to continue increasing bed capacity to match the probable number of patients, so that we do not experience horrific scenes of bed space shortages seen in some European hospitals, the minister said
He noted that in the event of overflow, hotels and school dormitories are may be required and so be prepared for level 1 (quarantine) and level 2 isolation (of COVID-19 positive with zero or mild symptoms), to free hospital beds to be dedicated to level 3, (moderate to severe cases) and level 4, (high dependency and Intensive care unit).
He then call on activists and philanthropists to work with state governments in concerted steps to scale up non-pharmaceutical measures and beef up infrastructural assets for isolation and treatment in their states.
“Though we are in the community transmission phase of response, easing social restrictions is desirable, but only if we can meet up with expectations that will not allow a spike in infection rates.
"This is what has led certain countries to reintroduce lockdowns. We are reviewing health sector specific advisories on re-opening the economy.”
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