The Ogun government has opened an Oxygen Therapy Centre to augment possible scarcity of life-saving consumables in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, who disclosed this to journalists on Monday in Abeokuta, said it was part of government’s efforts to contain the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Coker said that the therapy centre is located within the Infectious Disease Hospital, Iberekodo in Abeokuta, and consists of 20 beds of high dependency capacity.
Describing the new strain of COVID-19 as “highly infectious”, the commissioner affirmed that the state, and nation at large, was in the deep of the second wave of the pandemic.
“The Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) Isolation Centre is at 90 per cent capacity right now. This means that people have to take cognisance of being responsible for their own health. Our positivity rate, prior to December, was roving around 0.7 per cent to 0.8 per cent.
“But since December, particularly in January, our positivity rate has gone up by about eight per cent, which means that this second wave is real. Hence, we all have to pay attention and do necessary things needed to protect ourselves,’’ Coker said.
The commissioner noted that the state government was more concerned as an entity and was prepared to tackle pandemic, with the availability of isolation centres at Sagamu, FMC Abeokuta and Ikenne.
According to her, with the oxygen therapy centre, the state will not run out of oxygen like some states are experiencing at the moment. “We’re responding appropriately to contain and curtail this second wave,’’ she said.
The commissioner explained more than 50,000 residents, being one per cent of the state’s population, have been tested as stipulated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“We have tested over 50,000 residents of Ogun State given that our population is about 5.8 million. We are now heading to two per cent. Out of the over 50,000 tested, we have about 2,500 positive cases. If non-pharmaceutical guidelines are adhered to, we will not be overwhelmed in containing the pandemic.’’
The commissioner added that the government was responding appropriately to curtail this second wave. “But the success of our response has to be a collaborative one between the government and the individuals,’’ the commissioner said.