By OLAYINKA OLUKOYA, Abeokuta

The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, on Thursday, disclosed that 35 corps members tested positive for COVID-19 at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Sagamu.

Coker while briefing newsmen on the rising in cases of the third wave of the virus, said that those affected had been taken to isolation centres while some are on home management.

The NYSC orientation camp opened last weekend for Batch B, Stream 1, all over the federation with a report that about 109 corps members were diagnosed with the virus nationally.

“The number of NYSC members that have tested positive is 35. Some are on home management, while some are in the isolation centre,” she said.

The commissioner explained that the state had continued to record an increase in cases since the beginning of this month, with at least seven to 16 cases on each day.

“Ogun State has continued to record a rise in the number of COVID 19 cases, with a six-fold increase in admissions into the isolation centre compared to what was recorded two months earlier.

“In the month of June 2021, there were only two cases giving a positivity rate of 0.04 per cent while the month of July had a sharp rise of 96 cases with a positivity rate of 7.4 per cent.

“The first three days in the month of August has also seen a rise in positivity rate of 14.6 per cent. The isolation ward at OOUTH which had only two admissions in June currently has 12 persons on admission whilst the isolation ward at Ikenne has 35 admissions with 71 on home management.

“Death rate had remained relatively static at 50 till July 15 after which we recorded 7 deaths in the last two weeks.

“In the last one week, there has been a sharp rise in new cases from 7 per day to 16 per day,” Coker hinted.

She expressed concern that only a fraction of residents of the state had been vaccinated despite mass education on the need for them to embrace it saying, “our observation so far is that all mortalities are in the unvaccinated.

“His excellency Prince Dapo Abiodun would like to thank everyone for making the phase one covid19 vaccination exercise a huge success with a total of 126,631 vaccinated for the first dose which translated to 136 per cent of our target population for the Phase 1 exercise while 57,453 were vaccinated for the second dose.

“The foregoing figures represent a very small fraction of our population in Ogun State and to achieve herd immunity in the state we must vaccinate at least 70 per cent of the population.

“In order to achieve the above, another opportunity has come with the commencement of the second phase of the vaccination exercise across the 20 LGAs this month.

“Let me also seize this opportunity to encourage everyone 18 and above that is yet to be vaccinated to present themselves in the next round of vaccination exercise at the nearest vaccination centres.

“Our observation so far is that all mortalities are in the unvaccinated. The COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective and offers protection against the disease.

“Please continue to wear your mask properly, wash your hands frequently, observe physical distancing and where possible, avoid a crowd.” (Text, excluding headline, courtesy Nigerian Tribune)

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