A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE CORONA VIRUS RESPONSE OF GOVT.

It was necessary that the lockdown be extended, but it should have been accompanied by a number of things, one of which I see Governor Sanwo-Olu has made an announcement on, as of last night - food distribution to the masses.

Mass testing is also something that must not be ignored at this stage. By now, we ought to have multiple drive through/walk-in FREE test centres. All government primary & secondary health facilities & all private hospitals in Lagos State ought to be in the frontline of this.

In addition, all LCDA & LGA secretariats should have same facilities. Oyo State has set up something similar at Adamasingba Stadium.

Just as is being done in Cross River State, Personal Protective Equipment like masks should be distributed FREE to ALL residents of Lagos State by the government. The logic behind this is, if everyone dies, who do you lead?

Also, resources must be directed towards the pharmaceutical industry in Lagos State now, for two purposes - preventive and curative therapies.

They must be supported to mass produce Vitamin C plus Zinc supplements, which have been proved to boost the immune system enough to help either prevent infection or increase survivability in the event of infection.

There is now enough unignorable clinical and anecdotal evidence to suggest that *Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin & Zinc-sulphate* taken In a specific dosage, can cure mild to severe infections of COVID19.

These medications must be produced on a massive scale and made available free to all hospitals and pharmacies in Lagos State.

There really should not be any question as to where the funds for these measures would come from as BILLIONS of naira have been donated by the business community in Lagos to the government to fight this virus.

So, as I said, the lockdown is necessary, but the above measures must be taken to ameliorate and *SHORTEN* it, as the effects of prolonging it will not bode well for both Government and the people. The deteriorating security situation in parts of Lagos are a pointer to this.

The economy cannot continue to remain on hold, & to this end, the response of the governors of Oyo & Cross River states are examples that can be scaled up for Lagos. South Korea & Taiwan are also towing similar lines. The inevitable ugly alternative is 1m boys & Awawa boys