By DEATHS arising from the outbreak of cholera in Lagos State, Nigeria, has risen to 29, but with only one case reported as of Sunday.
The state’s Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, made this known on Monday while speaking at a press conference, held at Alausa, Ikeja.
He said the 29 deaths were from the 579 patients that were attended to in various healthcare facilities in the state, including general and private hospitals as well as primary healthcare centres.
Abayomi disclosed that the majority of the deaths were due to patients presenting themselves late at the hospitals as they could not be rehydrated anymore, with some of them brought in dead.
Abayomi, however, assured that the state government was in control of the situation, like it happened during the COVID-19 incident, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu also being the Incident Commander this time around, while he serves as the Deputy Incident Commander.
He added that treatment of patients remained free in order to slow down transmission of the disease.
He also maintained that the state government was yet to identify the source, saying that efforts were still on to find that out.
“The treatment is free in our hospital and healthcare facilities to slow down the transmission. We go out also to search for the patients and those that the patients might have been in contact with,” he said.
Speaking further, the commissioner recalled that the outbreak, which was first reported early in the month, had slowed down in reported number of cases as of June 22, 2024, with “only one case reported” as of yesterday.
“As of June 22, 2024, the number has tried to come down. As of yesterday, there was only one reported case,” he said.
Abayomi expressed delight that no case had, so far, been reported in the state school environment since resumption, just as he pointed out that a multi-agency approach was adopted in tackling the menace.
He, however, urged residents to continue to adhere to safe drinking and make sure they cooked their food well before eating.
He urged them to ensure a hygienic environment as well as engage in regular hand washing to curb transmission of the disease.
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