Coronavirus: Lagos govt says 'there are only 100 beds at our treatment centre'

The Infectious Disease Centre, Yaba, a facility built for the treatment of Coronavirus cases in Lagos, can only accommodate 100 patients, according to Obafemi Hamzat, the Deputy Governor of the state.

During an interview on TVC, Hamzat said the facility has 100 beds, adding that should there be more than 100 patients, the state government will put in place tents within the premises of the facility that can accommodate 200 more.

He noted that asides the disease centre in Yaba, four other hospitals in the state have been identified and placed on standby.

Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu allay fears of Lagosians as Nigeria records first case of Coronavirus. [Punch] Pulse Nigeria

Hamzat said the Lagos government has in place all the equipment needed by the specialists who will be attending to patients.

The deputy governor however revealed that the Italian man diagnosed of the Coronavirus had visited Ogun state before being brought to Lagos.

According to him, the man went to Ewekoro in Ogun, where he fell ill and was brought to Lagos, where he was diagnosed with the virus.

Hamzat said, "This young man came in from Italy, Milan. He came in on the 25th. He has a consultancy job with a company in Ogun state. He landed on the 26th, went to Ewekoro and then he fell ill and the doctors were smart enough to say this is somebody that is coming from Italy that has just suddenly fallen ill. So they took him in. So we sent an ambulance there with a pep jacket. So they brought him in and then he was diagnosed.

"The good thing is that he was brought in yesterday morning. Within four hours, he was diagnosed. Our diagnostic tool seemed to work better than we expected. Normally it takes about 8 hours but within four hours, we were able to determine. So he is at our biosecurity lab in Yaba. It is a lab that we built that can accommodate 100 for now but it is only one bed that is occupied today. Hopefully it wouldn't spread. So we are ready. We are well equipped."

Hamzat added that the Lagos government has begun the tracking of everyone the Italian man came in contact with, from the flight he boarded into the country, to his journey to Ogun.

Pulse had reported that Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, recorded its first case of the deadly coronavirus disease.

In a statement made available to the public, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) disclosed that the case, which was confirmed on Thursday, February 27, 2020, is the first case to be reported in the country since the beginning of the outbreak in China.

The coronavirus has killed nearly 3,000 people and infected over 80,000 globally.