By OLUWAFUNKE ISHOLA/FLORENCE ONUEGBU

The Lagos State Government says 17 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and discharged, after testing negative twice to the virus.

Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State said in a statement on Wednesday that a total of 649 patients had been discharged from the isolation centres.

“Good people of Lagos, today, 17 more COVID-19 Lagos patients; six females and 11 males, all Nigerians were discharged from our Yaba, Gbagada and LUTH Isolation facilities to reunite with the society.

“The patients, seven from the Mainland Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba; six from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and four from Gbagada General Hospital Isolation Centres were discharged, having fully recovered and tested negative to COVID-19 in two consecutive readings.

“This brings to 649 the number of #COVID-19 confirmed cases that have been successfully managed and discharged in Lagos,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Earlier, Prof. Akin Abayomi, the State Commissioner for Health, said that it was important for the public to confirm their COVID-19 status, if they are unwell.

“What we mean to #flattenthecurve is that, we want to spread out the speed at which the virus is spreading in the community.

“We have exceeded the containment phase now. We are at the active community transmission stage,” the commissioner said.

He added that the new strategy would be to concentrate on people with severe cases and isolate them, while mild cases would be managed at home.

Abayomi said that the government’s attention was shifting to community based isolation. (NAN)