The Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force disclosed on Monday that a 2-year-old and 95-year-old cases had recovered at different times after being treated for the virus at the state medical facilities.
The Coordinator, Oyo State Isolation Centres, Prof. Temitope Alonge, made the disclosure adding that isolation centres run by the state had recorded zero fatality since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the state in March.
Alonge, who was the Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, attributed the feat to God and the holistic approach adopted by the medical personnel.
He said medical personnel at the centres adopted a holistic approach to COVID-19 management since inception.
He said, “There is always the God factor. 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.
“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.
“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 assessment 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.
“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 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.”
The state’s Incident Manager and coordinator, Emergency Operations Centre, Dr. Taiwo Ladipo, said, “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.”
According to him, the state has, so far, tested a total of 14,356 samples, recorded 2,860 positive cases, 1,420 recovered cases and 31 deaths.
