Health
ANAMBRA State Commissioner for Health, Vincent Okpala says public compliance to COVID-19 protocols is key to containing the third wave, currently ravaging countries and some states in the country.
Okpala said this while interacting with journalists in his office at the Jerome Udoji Secretariat, Awka.
Reflecting on the efforts of the state Government during the t index case, he noted that his ministry carried out massive awareness campaigns to enlighten the public.
The commissioner emphasised that the establishment of the Protective Care Centres helped the state to contain the first and second waves of the pandemic; capacity that we built with respect to responding to COVID-19 had not waned.
“We are stronger now compared to when we started. Looking back about 14 months ago, we are not praying that the third wave will catch up with us but it is becoming a certainty that it will happen because our people travel a lot.
“From the epicentre, where the Delta variants have struck, it is just a matter of hours or days before it hits the state and Lagos is currently facing the third wave.
“When we look across capacity building, we have gained an increase in capacity response with respect to surveillance, testing and treatment during this pandemic,’’ he said.
Okpala explained that the introduction of Anambra COVID-19 Chain of Survival, preventive measures also helped in containing the pandemic while re-emphasising the importance of the chain of survival to the public.
“If we keep to the protocols, follow the chain of survival just like we did during the first and second cases then the decrease in mortality during that period will be the same in this third wave.
“We are prepared but we still appeal to the public concerning their fatigue in respect to COVID-19 compliance, protocols and non pharmacological measures of mitigation.
“They should not be fatigued because vaccine coverage in Nigeria is about a percent or less than that by the time we finish the vaccination.
“Hopefully, we have another batch coming in by next month and so we still ask our people to keep observing the protocols because we don’t want to be overwhelmed,’’ he appealed.
According to him, Anambra vaccinated 41, 304 residents while some weeks ago 32,397 tests were conducted out of which 1,884 positives and 1,865 positives were discharged.
“This is our current statistics, in the past one month we have had only two positives and one of those positives has been referred to the National Reference Laboratory for genetic sequence.
“Hand washing with soap under running water, wearing of face masks in public and avoiding crowded places as well maintaining social distance will go a long way to help us in the fight against the pandemic.
“Please we need to do this things and if we don’t do it, there will be serious problems and that is just the simple truth.’’
– July 20, 2021 @ 18:08 GMT /
Tags: Compliance to COVID-19 protocols key to containing 3rd wave - Health Commissioner
