Treat malaria symptoms as COVID-19, says Governor Sanwo-Olu

The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has advised residents of the state to consider and treat any malaria symptom as COVID-19 until proven otherwise.

Sanwo-Olu, at a briefing on Tuesday, also raised the alarm that the oxygen demands for COVID-19 patients at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, had increased to 350 six-litre cylinders daily from 70 six-litre cylinders.

He said, “In this second wave of the current pandemic, any malaria-like symptoms should be considered as COVID-19 virus infection unless and until otherwise proven. Any affected individual with COVID-like symptoms should proceed to any of our public health facilities and/or laboratories to get tested for free.

The governor also lamented the impact of the pandemic on schoolchildren, saying 24,000 children didn’t report to school after the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown.

He said the decision to reopen schools for the second term academic session was arrived at after due consultation with key stakeholders.

The governor noted that the government believed at the children were safer while in the schools as the state Ministry of Education and Office of Education Quality Assurance would intensify monitoring of compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

– Punch