35 Youth Corp members test positive for coronavirus in Ogun state

Thirty-five members of the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) in Ogun State have tested positive to coronavirus in their camp located in Sagamu town, Sagamu local government area of the state.

Penpushing reports that, Commissioner of Health Dr Tommy Coker made the disclosure on Thursday as a press conference, adding that the affected corp members have been confined to the isolation centre, while other are on home management

‘The number of NYSC members  that have  tested positive is 35, Some are on home management, while some are at the isolation centre. Ogun State has continued to record a rise in the number of COVID 19 cases, with a 6 fold increase in admissions into the isolation centre compared to what was recorded 2 months earlier’.

‘In the month of June 2021, there were only two cases giving a positivity rate of 0.04%  while the month of July had a sharp rise of 96 cases with positivity rate of 7.4%. The first 3 days in the month of August has also seen a rise in positivity rate of 14.6%’

The Commissioner added that, in the month of June, 2021, there were only two cases giving  a positivity rate of 0.04%, adding that in the month of July had a sharp rise of 96 cases with positivity rate of 74%

‘It has become necessary to  call this press conference due to our observations from our Covid-19 monitoring exercise. The rise in new case and death  trend in the state over the last twelve weeks has become an issue of concern’, she stated.

‘The third wave of COVID 19 is real, as the evidence is obvious. Since the advent of the Delta variants, the number of COVID 19 cases have been on the increase in many countries of the World with Nigeria included’, Coker emphasised.

‘The World Health Organization has reported that delta variant has been identified in 135 countries with United Kingdom having the highest number of confirmed cases.  Nigeria Centre for disease Control has also confirmed 32 COVID 19 Delta variants in 5 States Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Oyo and FCT of which Ogun shares borders with two states’.

The Commissioner pointed out that, Delta strain has been adjudged to have increased transmissibility and has been linked to a surge in cases in communities where it is the dominant strain in circulation,adding that it has also been reported to result in high death rate.

‘Isolation WARD at OOUTH which had only 2 admissions in June currently has 12 persons on admission whilst isolation ward at Ikenne has 35 admissions with 71 on home management’, she said.

‘Death rate had remained relatively static at 50 till July 15 after which we recorded 7 deaths in the last two weeks. In the last one week, there has been a sharp rise in new cases from 7 per day  to 16 per day.

‘The State Government through the ministry of Health and other agencies has continued to increase awareness in the communities and we have continued our community testing in five of our hotshot LGAs and secondary facilities namely OOUTH, FMC, Ijaiye, State Hospital Ota and Ijebu Ode’.

‘The hotshot LGAs are Abeokuta South, Sagamu, AdoOdo Ota, Obafemi Owode and  Ikenne. With two molecular laboratory and the use of Rapid diagnostic test kits, we have expanded our diagnostic capacity across the State’.

The commissioner said the state government is collaborating with partners like WHO and researcher for genomic sequencing to map the COVID 19 strains in circulation in our communities.

‘It is well known that a lot of citizens have let down their guards on the prescribed non pharmaceutical intervention. We urge all Ogun State residents to ensure strict adherence to public health and social measures in place’.

Penpushing also reports that, she enjoined  community leaders, religious leaders, media houses and other stake holders to join hands with the State Government to encourage strict compliance to correct use of face mask, frequent hand washing and  observance of the 2 meters physical distancing in public places and avoidance of crowded gatherings.

The commissioner said the state government shall continue to ensure that organizations who intend to hold large gatherings comply with the non- pharmaceutical measure,adding that in order to achieve this another opportunity has come with the commencement of  the 2nd  phase of the vaccination exercise  across the twenty local government.

‘His Excellency Prince Dapo Abiodun would like to thank everyone for making the phase one Covid-19 vaccination exercise a huge success with a total of 126,631 vaccinated for the first dose which translated to 136% of our target population for the Phase 1 exercise while 57,453 were vaccinated for the second dose’, Coker added

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