Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, on Saturday disclosed that the state had enlisted 600 patients for the planned chloroquine clinical trials.

The state discharged 45 more patients on Saturday.

Omotoso said an independent board, which would be inaugurated, would monitor the process and give necessary advice to the state government on the progress of the trial.

Omotoso said, “In summary, we will be looking at about 600 patients. The trial will go on till we recruit the required number. There will be an independent Data and Safety Board. The board can advise that study be discontinued if the statistical evidence of the usefulness of a drug is overwhelming and in which case it becomes unethical to withhold it from other groups.”

Also, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said the state was better able to handle COVID-19 given the experience it had with Ebola six years ago.

“That was also epic in Lagos and it gave Lagos some understanding about how serious infectious disease could be managed. We have an Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba and even after the Ebola case, we had some international grants and over the last two to three years, we have built what we call a biosecurity lab level four, which can match any of its kind in the world,” he said.