The Lagos State
Government has begun the training of 342 medical personnel as first-level
emergency responders for communicable diseases like coronavirus in the 20 Local
Governments Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state.
Director-General, Lagos State Emergency
Management Agency, LASEMA, Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu disclosed this on Monday
while addressing newsmen in Alausa, Ikeja. Oke-Osanyintolu said the training
was a component of collaborative efforts with the Ministry of Health to contain
the spread and possibility of entry into Nigeria of communicable diseases such
as Coronavirus, Lassa fever and others.
According to him: “Following a directive issued by Governor
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, our team has immediately begun a monitoring visit to all
councils to ascertain the level of preparedness of all the hospitals and other
healthcare facilities in the state.” Oke-Osanyintolu described coronavirus as a
large family of viruses that are common in many different species of animals,,
including camels, cattle, cats and bats. “Rarely, animal coronaviruses can
infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS, SARS and now
with Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic
illness caused by Lassa virus, a member of the arenavirus family of viruses. “Humans
usually become infected with Lassa virus through exposure to food or household
items contaminated with urine or faeces of infected Mastomys rats. According to
World Health Organisation, Lassa fever outbreak is a yearly occurrence during
the dry season in Nigeria, but this year’s outbreak is more widespread with 10
states, 140 suspected and 30 confirmed cases.” The LASEMA boss explained that
the risk to individuals was dependent on exposure and that some people would
had an increased risk of infection, for example, healthcare workers caring for
2019-nCoV and Lassa fever patients and other close contacts of infected
patients. Oke-Osanyintolu said that Lagos, being a pacesetter must be proactive
considering the megacity capacity of the state which could be characterised by
the influx of people migrating into the state.
Source: Vanguard