113 health workers infected with COVID-19 -Health Minister, Ehanire

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, says 113 health workers have been infected with COVID-19.

As of Wednesday evening, Nigeria had recorded 1,728 COVID-19 cases, out of which 307 patients have been discharged while 51 persons have died.

Speaking at the presidential task force briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja on Thursday, the minister said the surge in cases can be attributed to increased community transmission and the conduct of more tests.

Addressing a question on the figures of infected healthcare workers in the country, Ehanire said about 113 workers have been affected.

He said most of the infected healthcare workers are from private hospitals, thereby urging those unqualified to treat the virus to desist from doing so.

The minister said about 80 percent of infected persons would have mild or no symptoms, 15 percent would have fairly or severe symptoms and less than five percent would have critical symptoms.

He asked infected patients not to be worried as the recovery rate of the virus is at least 95%.

“There are not so many people in the health sector who are infected (with COVID-19). The latest figure we have is that there are about 113 actually. And they are not all public health workers, there are a good number from private hospitals,” he said.

“If you hear us speaking frequently against trying to treat coronavirus in private clinics, we are actually referring to people who do so without having necessary precautions and training.

“This is because they risk infecting themselves and they go home and give this infection to their family and that is not the right thing. So the health workers who have no training have no business handling coronavirus.

“For those who do not have equipment, we have said that we have provided equipment and PPE for all those who are out there. There are one or two places where we have heard that there is tightness in its supply and we have tried to send them over there.

“But let me remind you that there is a global shortage of PPE, many countries are struggling but we are doing everything we can to make sure that our frontline workers have these requirements and we also have a stockpile that we can send quickly to make sure there is no shortage.”

The minister added that the federal government is looking at domestic production to meet up demand of personal protective equipment (PPE).