At least 35 youth corps members have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camp in Sagamu, Ogun State.
This was disclosed on Thursday by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, while briefing newsmen in Abeokuta on the upsurge of the third wave of the pandemic in the state.
On Wednesday, about 109 youth corps members had been reported tested positive for COVID-19 at the NYSC orientation camps nationwide which opened at the weekend for Batch B, Stream 1, with six cases recorded in Ogun State.
The commissioner said some corps members have been confined to isolation centres, while others had been placed on home management.
She expressed concerns that Ogun State has continued to record a rise in cases since the beginning of August, with at least seven to 16 cases per day.
The commissioner said: “Ogun State has continued to record a rise in the number of COVID 19 cases, with a six-fold increase in admissions into the isolation centre compared to what was recorded two months earlier.
“In the month of June 2021, there were only two cases giving a positivity rate of 0.04 per cent, while the month of July had a sharp rise of 96 cases with a positivity rate of 7.4 per cent.
“The first three days in the month of August have also seen a rise in positivity rate of 14.6 per cent. Isolation Ward at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital which had only two admissions in June currently has 12 persons on admission, whilst isolation ward at Ikenne has 35 admissions with 71 on home management.
“Death rate had remained relatively static at 50 till July 15 after which we recorded seven deaths in the last two weeks.”
She lamented that only a small fraction of the state’s population had been vaccinated, and advised citizens to embrace vaccination, adding “Our observation so far is that all mortalities are in the unvaccinated.”
“Please continue to wear your mask properly, wash your hands frequently, observe physical distancing and where possible, avoid a crowd,” she added.