Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has commissioned a 118-bed isolation and treatment centre within the Gbagada General Hospital on Friday.
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Further increasing the capacity of the state to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, the isolation facility adds to the number of treatment facilities the state has.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, while inaugurating the facility, said it would be operated by highly skilled volunteer health workers, trained in infection prevention and control as well as COVID-19 case management.
This new centre brings to five the total number of isolation and treatment centres in Lagos, while the state has a bed-capacity of 558.
The state government had previously commissioned a 110-bed isolation and treatment facility at Onikan, while another 70-bed facility was inaugurated at the Landmark Exhibition Centre, Eti-Osa local government.
Also, the state has a 100-bed Isolation and Treatment Centre at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba, and another 60-bed capacity at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH.
Meanwhile, Lagos has 755 active COVID-19 cases as of Friday, May 1, with 199 patients discharged, while 20 have died from infection in the state.
The state government had disclosed partnership with the private sector in the treatment of COVID-19 cases, and approved the First Cardiology Consultants Hospital, Ikoyi, as a private hospital managing COVID-19 cases.
In the meantime, the Commissioner for Health in the state, Akin Abayomi, earlier, at a press conference, said that plans to have more bed-capacity are in view.
Abayomi said the state will set up a 150-bed capacity Isolation and Treatment Centre at the Infectious Disease Hospital and another 300-capacity permanent facility within the same premises, making a total of 450-bed capacity in view.
These facilities, the Commissioner said, would be ready in the coming months.
Lagos has the highest confirmed cases in Nigeria, with 976 cases out of the 1932 cases nationwide.
On Thursday, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, lamented the inadequate bed spaces for treating COVID-19 patients across the country, especially in Lagos.
The NCDC said only about 3,500 bed spaces are availble across Nigeria for COVID-19 patients even as the country continues to experience a growing figure of cases.
