Lagos State Government has begun strategies for commencement of home-based management of asymptomatic and mild Covid-19 patients.
Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi who made this known during an update on the Covid-19 situation explained that the State Government is working on parameters to integrate home-based care to the isolation strategy in the management of cases stressing that asymptomatic and mild stage of the infection will now be managed at home rather than at the treatment centres.
Abayomi noted that the home-based care is necessitated by the increasing numbers of positive cases in the community which is a result of the increase in testing capacity. He added that with the increasing numbers of positive cases, the possibility of running short of bed spaces in treatment facilities can not be ruled out making it imperative to opt for home-based care for people who have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic to the infection.
Abayomi stressed that the State government will pay more attention to patients with moderate and severe cases and manage such cases at the treatment centres because they are not suitable to be managed at home.
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“It is a bit of a simple decision. If you are asymptomatic you qualify to be managed at home simply because most people in that category will naturally get well without any medical intervention. After all if you are not feeling any symptoms you may not know you have Covid-19, nothing happens to you and you may clear of the virus after 7 to 10 days. The people we want to pay more attention to are the moderate to severe ones because they are not suitable for home based care”.
The Commissioner however noted home-based care for asymptomatic and mild patients will be strictly monitored stressing an asymptomatic patient can turn mild and a mild patient may turn moderate or even severe which will require management at a treatment facility if such is the case.
He stated that patients receiving home-based care will be provided with a Covid-19 pack with which they can monitor their body temperature, measure their oxygen level and be given certain vitamins and pain relieving drugs to manage themselves.
Speaking on the Covid-19 testing capacity of the State, Abayomi said it is being ramped up noting that the State now has the capacity to perform 1,000 test per day and working at raising the capacity to 2,000 or 3,000 per day so that everybody that needs testing or wishes to be tested can get tested.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
