The Lagos State Government said it would only allow the 67 Nigerian returnees from Ivory Coast to leave for their state after completing their 14-day quarantine in the Badagry.

Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, disclosed this during an inter-ministerial media update on COVID-19 on Thursday in Ikeja.

“On Wednesday, we took 67 Nigerians coming from Ivory Coast into our quarantine facility in Badagry where we’re keeping them for 14 days.

“We’ll test them, if they’re positive, we’ll move them into one of our Isolation Wards in Lagos and if they’re negative, we’ll allow them to continue on their way to Osun State which is where they originated from,” the Commissioner said.

Abayomi said that Lagos was monitoring closely movement into the state as about 10 percent of the 172 Nigerians who returned from Ivory Coast penultimate week tested positive to Coronavirus.

According to the commissioner, “we are also watching movements closely so as not to increase the number of imported cases in the state.”

On management of COVID-19 corpses, Abayomi said that officials from the Ministries of Health and Environment had been trained to specially prepare such bodies before handing them over to their families for burial.

This is to ensure that “the family members were not at risk of being infected by their loved ones.

“Even when people die of Coronavirus, it doesn’t mean that the virus has died. The corpse is still infectious,” the commissioner said.

On the use of face masks, the commissioner said that “only sealed N95 masks, which covers entire face and filters air breathing, could protect from contracting Coronavirus.

“If you wear ordinary masks or anything else, they’re not protecting you from COVID-19,” the commissioner said.

Abayomi said that the three Isolation Centres in Lagos State located in Yaba, Onikan and Lagos University Teaching Hospital had 280 bed capacity, 100 of which were already occupied by COVID-19 patients.

According to the commissioner, two new Isolation Centres, with about 150 beds, would be ready next week at Gbagada General Hospital and Landmark in Victoria Island.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inter-ministerial media briefing on COVID-19 was attended by about 10 members of the Lagos State cabinet.