The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora has expressed concern over the continuing spread of COVID-19 infection among health workers in the country, despite all efforts being made to curtail it.

Dr. Mamora revealed his bewilderment at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 Press Briefing in Abuja on Thursday, 13th August, 2020.

The Minister however reiterated Government’s commitment to sustaining the gains so far made in reducing the ugly trend. To this end, he disclosed that about 594 healthcare workers from various private and public facilities in Abia State have undergone training and retraining on infection prevention and control. “We are concerned by the resurgence of infection in healthcare workers. In a bid to sustain the gains we have made in reducing the rate of infection among our health workers, we have made training and retraining of health workers on infection prevention and control our priority”, he said.

Dr. Mamora added that government is currently investigating healthcare-associated infection in a health facility in Kaduna State and that lessons learned from the investigation would be used to improve service delivery.
While urging the healthcare workers not to drop their guards, the Minister charged them to ensure appropriate usage of their Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). “I encourage our health workers not to drop their guards as the pandemic is still with us. Use your PPEs appropriately and judiciously. We have ensured that PPEs are available in all our health facilities”, he said.

Updating on the Nation’s COVID-19 cases, Dr. Mamora revealed that as at 13th August, 2020, Nigeria has tested 338,084 samples so far and has recorded 47,743 cases with 33,943 persons treated and discharged while 956 persons have been lost to the COVID-19 infection. He added that more than 70% of all the tests conducted have been in 9 states including Lagos, Kano, FCT, Plateau, Oyo, Kaduna, Edo Ogun Rivers with 25% of the tests in Lagos alone. He assured of the Federal Government’s continued collaboration with State Governments to ramp up case findings and sample collection activities saying, “Our target remains to test 1% of our population across the country.”

In another development, Dr. Mamora has commended the Nigerian youths for their efforts in national development, particularly in the area of community mobilization, risk communication through the social media and community engagement in the fight against the global pandemic. He made this commendation while commenting on the United Nations’ International Youth Day which was commemorated on 12th August, 2020 across the world.

He also appealed to them to take responsibility and adhere to appropriate non-pharmaceutical measures, as the pandemic is already taking a toll on the youths in the country. “I wish to commend some of our youths who have supported community mobilization and risk communication through the social media and community engagement. This pandemic has had its impact on our young people. “As at yesterday, 46% of positive cases in the country are young people between ages 21-40. I will therefore appeal to our youths to take responsibility. Let us ensure that we adhere to the advisories to wear face masks appropriately, regularly wash your hands and ensure respiratory hygiene”, he said.