COVID-19
COVID-19
COVID-19: Youths Constitute 46% of positive cases in Nigeria
As of 13th August, 2020, we have recorded 47,743 cases from
338,084 samples tested so far, while 33,943 persons have been
treated and discharged. Sadly, 956 persons have been lost to the
COVID-19 infection.
2. Our target remains to test 1% of our population across the
country. As of today, 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. We shall
continue to work with state governments to ramp up case findings
and sample collection activities.
3. Yesterday, August 12th, 2020 Nigeria joined the rest of the
world to celebrate this years United Nations’ International Youth
Day with the theme “Youth Engagement for Global Action” which seeks
to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young
people at the local, national and global levels is enriching
national and multilateral institutions. It was also an
opportunity to take stock of the contributions of young people to
national development. It was also a day to reflect on the
contributions of young people to our response plan. I wish to
commend some our youths who have supported community mobilization
and risk communication through the social media and community
engagement.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. In Abia State, we have concluded the training of 594
Healthcare Workers from private and public health facilities on
infection prevention and control. We are currently investigating
healthcare associated infection in a health facility in Kaduna
State. Lessons learnt from this will be used to improve service
delivery. 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.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire
Minister of Health