The Oyo State Task Force on COVID-19 has come out to say that the isolation centres run by the state are yet to record any fatality since the pandemic started.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr Taiwo Adisa revealed this recently.

According to him, this has been the case thus far because of the reasonable approach adopted by medical personnel managing the coronavirus situation.

He added that the medical personnel at the state’s isolation centres do not fail to properly access the patients, manage their underlying ailments and keep up with their nutrition and exercise needs.

His words, “Yes, I can confirm to you that Oyo State has not recorded any fatality in any of its isolation centres since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the state. That’s a fact and it is a landmark achievement.”

Coordinator, Oyo State Isolation Centres, Prof. Alonge added, “Well, many things. There is always the God factor. God has been good to us. Then our treatments actually commence very urgently and we pay attention to every complaint of the patients.

“Our health care workers have been very prudent and meticulous, because, most times, when these patients come in and claim they have no symptoms, we take time to clerk them and ask detailed questions.

“So, we found out that in clerking them, many of them that claim they do not have symptoms actually have. So, we address those symptoms and we have added all manners of care to address their symptoms.

“The symptoms they think they don’t have or they think can be ignored, when they present them to us, we pay attention and deal with them. Of course, if we deal with that along with Coronavirus, we capture virtually all their complaints.”

“Again, their nutrition has been very good. They have been on a high protein diet. The environment is conducive. They do exercise. Twice a week, they do aerobics and dance. Health care workers dance across the barrier and the patients are dancing across the other side of the barrier. There is a very good relationship with them. They are very open and they tell us how they feel, because they know we are concerned about every part of their livelihood.

“We have gone beyond just saying a patient is positive. We do baseline investigations to check their liver functions, we check their kidney functions. We check their blood for malaria parasites. We do comprehensive assessments both in clerking and blood tests. So, at the end of the day, some infections in their system that they are not even aware of, which Coronavirus will worsen, are taken care of. We pick them up early and begin to work on them.

“Sincerely, it has been a wonderful experience. We have had a 2-year-old. We have had a 95-year-old, who recovered. We have a wide range of patients. The average range is 34. We have taken a (child) delivery there (at the Olodo Infectious Disease Centre) before and the baby is COVID-19 free. The mother too has tested negative.

“As I speak, there are two pregnant women and one nursing mother there. We have every category of patients; millionaires, the poor, bank managers, directors, deputy directors of parastatals, government agencies. So, it is a mixed thing.

“Patients spend an average range of 10 days or, at most, three weeks. Any patient that is spending more than three weeks has other problems that we are coping with.”