Nigeria's Lagos struggles to care for Covid-19 patients

Hospitals in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos are struggling to manage an influx of Covid-19 patients. The country's case tally has grown significantly since December driven by a mutant strain of the virus.

Due to the crisis, some medical workers have had to stay on duty for days.

"Some of us here, we don't even sleep at night, because we have calls, we have to go and attend to patients. Some of us don't leave, we stay in the hospital, two, three days, some five days", said Adejumo Olusola, a physician. 

The second wave has created a medical oxygen crisis in the country as many patients need to be assisted to breathe. 

In Lagos alone, demand has gone from 70 to 350 oxygen tanks a day.

"We've never not had enough oxygen. We've been close to not having enough and we've been stretched, but we've never actually been in a situation where we have patients that need oxygen, and there's no oxygen", said Lagos health commissioner Akin Abayomi.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday approved 17 million dollars to build 38 oxygen plants and to repair existing ones.