All patients must be screened for COVID-19 - LASUTH tells staff

The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has told its staff to screen any patient visiting the hospital for COVID-19 fro safety reasons.

This is coming as Nigeria's coronavirus cases rose to 665 on Monday night, according to reports from the NCDC, including 21 deaths.

The instruction was given at COVID-19 training held for the health workers of the Department of Community Health and Primary Health Care, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in conjunction with the LASUTH COVID-19 Response Committee.

Speaking at the training programme held on Monday at the Hospital in Ikeja, the Head of Department, Community Health and Primary Health Care, LASUTH, Dr. Yinka Adeniran informed the participants that there is yet no known cure for the disease.

Dr. Adeniran maintained that health workers must take precautions of social distancing, hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene and the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when attending to a suspicious case.

He averred that every patient coming to the hospital should be screened for COVID-19, stressing that their travel history, exposure to infected patients and the symptoms of their illness should be painstakingly queried.

The Chairman, LASUTH COVID-19 Response Committee, Dr. Yetunde Kuyinu, remarked that appropriate use of PPE, myths and misconceptions about the disease will be discussed extensively with different categories of health workers during the course of the training.