Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos has said patients who lie about their travel history will be prosecuted.
He disclosed this during a press briefing at the State House Marina on Monday.
He said “These patients do not only endanger their lives but the lives of our front line medical personnel, we already have some names and they will be prosecuted duly”.
“We would therefore like to appeal to our health workers to raise alarm as soon as they notice anything of sort,” he stated.
The governor also said that the state will enforce the wearing of face mask in public places to reduce the spread of coronavirus.
Lagos is the epicentre of coronavirus in Nigeria with 376 confirmed coronavirus which represents more than half of the total cases in Nigeria.
“Lagos is now seeing a slow spread of community transmission of COVID-19 and as such we are considering mandatory use of face masks in our plan to contain COVID-19,” he said.
“The reduction in new cases is as a success of our house-to-house contact tracing and ramping up of tests across 20 LGAs.
“We encourage residents not to panic but to ensure strict social distancing and good hygiene.
“Let us avoid stigmatising those who have been discharged as this will encourage those experiencing symptoms to come forward instead of seeking private help and hiding travel history.
“We have commissioned local production of face masks certified by our healthcare professionals for our residents.
“Let us not give into panic buying and opportunistic price gouging which will deny our frontline healthcare workers of masks and other PPEs required to fight COVID-19.
“Everyone needs to work together to avoid the irresponsibility of flouting the lockdown, hiding symptoms and travel history and managing COVID-19 patients at healthcare facilities without informing the Lagos State Ministry of Health and NCDC. We will continue to do all we can to stop the spread.
“As we prepare to observe the Ramadan fast, we have a responsibility to continue to maintain appropriate levels of respiratory hygiene and physical distancing, and observe the restrictions on gatherings.
“We must work together to beat COVID-19,” he said.
