Coronavirus: It’s Wicked to Hoard Sanitisers, Face Masks, Says Sanwo-Olu

Martins Ifijeh

The Chief Incident Commander for the counter measures against Coronavirus outbreak in Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said no pharmacy or business ventures must hoard face masks and hand Sanitisers, describing it as wickedness.

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke on Sunday during his visit to the State-owned bio-security and containment facility at Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Yaba, where the Italian index case is being managed, was accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso.

The governor said both the state and federal government healthcare officials had been working round the clock with infectious disease control professionals from the international agencies to ensure the counter measures being deployed to contain the virus achieved the desired results.

He said: “Let me express a confession that I am very delighted with the level of preparedness and our response to stop coronavirus from spreading in our country. The kind of structures we have put in place and the strategies being deployed have raised my confidence that the nation, at the end of the day, will win this battle and will put it behind. I keep on expressing to the Commissioner for Health that we must stop at nothing to achieve the very best result.”

Reacting to the report of scarcity of sanitary materials at pharmacy shops across the state, the governor condemned the action, saying it was wicked for people to take the advantage of emergency situation to hoard and jerk the prices of face mask and hand sanitizer.

He said: “This should not be the means for anyone to enrich themselves. It is unfortunate people are hoarding these important sanitary materials. We need to speak to ourselves. People are just abusing a rare opportunity, because the outbreak is not an event everybody wishes for. I think it is unacceptable for people to sell above the prices they used to sell before the outbreak. These people should search their conscience and ask themselves what kind of people are we. We should be our brother’s keeper.”

Sanwo-Olu also frowned at misinformation trailing the COVID-19 case being managed at the IDH, saying the public deserved to get accurate information about the management of the patient in isolation. He urged the media practitioners to approach the appropriate quarters for updates and developments on the case being managed.

Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, likened the state’s response towards containing the outbreak of COVID-19 to “a war”, saying Lagos had deployed three levels of counter measure to stop the spread of the virus, which include medical, security and research.

He disclosed that Lagos and Ogun governments were constantly exchanging information, following the outbreak, adding that the movement of the index case had necessitated more cooperation between the two States.