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

By our reporter| The number of health workers infected with COVID-19 has risen to 113, the minister of health, Osagie Ehanire disclosed on Thursday.

Ehanire who made the disclosure at the Presidential Task Force briefing on Thursday, said the rapid speed of COVID-19 community transmission is a major concern but a bigger concern is the number of health workers who have now tested positive to the virus while in the line of duty.

The minister, however, dismissed reports of 300 doctors being infected with the virus, stating that the sector does not have such a number of infected persons.

Ehanire said, “The over 300 doctors that are infected is not true, there are not so many people in the health sector who are infected.”

“The latest figures we have is that they are about 113 actually.”

According to him, not all infected health workers are from the public sector, some he said, are from private hospitals.

Ehanire frowned the frequent rate at which COVID-19 patients are being treated in private hospitals by health workers without necessary precautions and training.

According to him, these health workers risk infecting themselves and their families.

He, therefore, warned against treating infected patients without having adequate training and knowledge.