Coronavirus is now jumping around, it is a highly contagious, Prof. Abayomi warns Lagosians

“ We ’ve moved from the imported stage to the community transmission stage and the virus is now jumping around and it is a highly contagious virus ; it spreads very easily’ the Lagos State Health Commissioner , Prof Akin Abayomi, has said

Speaking on Channels Television recently Prof. Abayomi said persons infected with coronavirus COVID-19 can be exercising daily and feel generally well but are secreting and transmitting the virus everywhere they go.

He said: “ The difference between flu and coronavirus is that if you catch the flu , you will know you have flu . You ’ll be terribly unwell , there will be no doubt that you are sick .

“ Most people don ’t actually know they have coronavirus . About sixty to seventy percent of people have a very mild illness it might just feel as if you had a rough day but you ’ re secreting the virus and therefore you ’re transmitting it .

“ And therefore a moderate proportion of people have symptoms and a smaller proportion will have a severe and critical illness. You could have coronavirus and be jogging. That’ s mild it could be. ”
He said the state is aware of the difference in the social segments of Lagosians and is working on policies suitable for different strata and parts of the society .

He said , “ Every segment of Lagos requires a slightly different strategy. It can ’t be the same cap fits all . Someone in Victoria Island doesn’ t have the same priority as someone in Makoko for example. What Mr Governor is trying to do is to size up all the respective situations . He gets his situation analysis every day . He debates with his cabinet.

“ Livelihood is the priority and COVID -19 is just a threat to livelihood . There are many other threats to livelihood . And so in life, you balance those threats . And that other threat may be hunger or other kinds of sicknesses .

“ Lockdown is a component of social distancing and there are many factors to social distancing . What we are trying to do is to reduce the opportunity for the virus to travel from one person to another .

“ If seventy percent of Lagosians are in the informal sector , they have no safety net, they live from day – to -day . What they earn is what they eat , it ’s not like a higher social – economic segment that has reserves.

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“ It is important that you allow your imaginations to infiltrate this segment of society and make realistic decisions that don ’ t disconnect you from these people . You could have a double assault in both ways if you make the wrong kind of decisions . ”