The federal government has officially confirmed that the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is already in the country.
Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire, made the disclosure at different events on Monday evening.
Sanwo-Olu also said since last week, an average of six deaths have been recorded daily from the disease in the country’s commercial city and coronavirus epicentre.
In his address at the national briefing by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19, Ehanire confirmed that like in many other parts of Africa, Nigeria has “begun to record a sharp increase in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the month of July, as global anxiety over the Delta variant spreads.”
According to him, “All data indicate that we are now no doubt in the third wave of resurgence of the SARS-COV-2 infection, which we saw coming long ago.”
Corroborating the minister, Governor Sanwo-Olu in a statement noted that despite efforts to prevent the third wave from hitting Nigeria, the third wave has already arrived.
“The third wave is already here with us, as much as we would have wished for a more positive outcome. We do not have a choice than to tackle it. We are no longer inexperienced, as a people, in dealing with the Coronavirus. Eighteen months into the pandemic, we have learnt a lot, we have seen progress and setbacks, we have been able to fine tune our strategies and response, and we are now in a good place to ensure that this third wave is the final one.
I believe that we can close this pandemic chapter very soon. But we must put in the work, the compliance, the regard for rules and restrictions,” the governor wrote.
