As the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase in Lagos, the State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on Saturday that the state is open to bids from any company with repute and integrity that can supply specified kits for coronavirus testing.
Mr Sanwo-Olu said this at his eleventh press update on coronavirus, adding that the state has paid for over 20,000 extraction kits and has placed an order for another 20,000 in its bid to test at least 120,000 in the next 60 days.
“We now have four testing facilities in Lagos State, and we remain grateful to the NCDC and all other partners who are involved.
“Our combined lab capacity is at about 850 tests daily. This is easily scalable to 1500 and 2000 subject to the availability of extraction kits considering the acute global shortage,” he said.
Akin Abayomi, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, earlier projected that COVID-19 cases in the state might be up to 120,000 by August.
Mr Sanwo-Olu said the suppliers of kits are the manufacturers and their local representatives but the bid is open to any company that can supply the desired kits to specification.
“I have also mandated the state laboratory apparatus to commence the local
production of certain items used for the diagnostic process and this has commenced already.
“We have also started a biweekly procurement of laboratory needs to prevent running out of these materials going forward, until at least 120,000 tests are done in about two months,” the governor said.
Speaking on the rise in the confirmed cases of coronavirus in Lagos, Mr Sanwo-Olu said a 62 per cent increase in confirmed cases occurred within six days, while a 32 per cent increase in the number of fatalities was recorded.
He said the cheering news is that the state has recorded a remarkable 100 per cent increase in the number of persons who have fully recovered.
“This trend of recoveries is very encouraging, and we believe it will continue at this rate. It gives us some of the much-needed confidence to face the difficult days and weeks ahead,” he said.
As of Sunday, Lagos has 1780 confirmed cases of coronavirus, out of which 448 persons have recovered and 33 patients died from the virus.
Source: Premium Times
