20 Kwara doctors contract COVID-19

At least, 20 doctors have contracted COVID-19 at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), President of UITH chapter of Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr. Badmus Habeeb, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin, yesterday.

He said doctors were battling with the pandemic based on available resources and advised the government to provide necessary resources and incentives to health workers across the country to help curb its spread.

“About 20 of our members have been infected with the virus in the past two to three weeks. I must reiterate that this is not the best of times for us, our families and the affected patients.”

Habeeb, however, said that the discovery of COVID-19 vaccines had brought hope and relief to people.

“There is a poor resource setting in the country, where basic necessities to make the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccines easy and possible, are not readily available. So it therefore seems we may never be able to get the vaccine anytime soon. Base on available evidence COVID-19 vaccine is effective and there is no reason why Nigerians should not follow the guide of scientific evidence, especially with proper information,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lagos government has reactivated the Indo Isolation Centre at Anthony to create more bed spaces for severe to critical cases of COVID-19 patients in the state.

Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, made the disclosure through his verified Twitter account @ProfAkinAbayomi,yesterday, while giving update on the state’s COVID-19 status. Indo Isolation Centre is a private COVID-19 care centre with 50 bed capacity.

The centre was among the seven centres shut down by the state government when the state’s COVID-19 cases declined in 2020.

Other COVID-19 care centres that are still shut down are Landmark, Gbagada, Agidingbi, Onikan, First Cardiology Consultants Hospital and Lagoon Hospital Centre.

With the activation of the Indo centre, there are now nine public and private treatment centres for COVID-19 patients in the state.

Abayomi listed the other eight care centres to include Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), 1 and 2, Yaba, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Armour, Paelon, Vedic, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), and Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta.

He said that the bed occupancy in the state’s public and private COVID-19 care centres have increased to 61 per cent.

According to him, the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH 2) Isolation Centre is almost filled up, while the Paelon Isolation Centre is filled with patients.

Why we criminalised denial of pandemic – Lalong

Plateau Governor,  Simon Lalong, yesterday, warned  that those misinforming residents about the non existence of COVID-19 would be arrested and prosecuted.

The governor stated this at a meeting with stakeholders on the second wave of COVID-19 and security issues in Jos.

The State Executive Council recently criminalised the denial of the existence of COVID-19, and the governor , said the legislation was part of steps to halt the spread of the virus.

“We are recording more daily cases in the state than previously. Sadly, we are also recording an increasing number of deaths that is very worrisome. The most worrisome point here is that despite this situation, most citizens appear to be careless and reluctant to observe the COVID-19 protocols.

“In fact, many have abandoned and refused to observe simple protocols of wearing face masks, maintaining social distance and washing hands regularly.

“While we have no intention of imposing another lockdown to avoid further damage to the economy, some members of the public are not helping us. For those who are in denial and continue to misinform others that COVID-19 does not exist, I want to warn them to desist. In other words, if you deny the existence of the disease, keep your denial to yourself because if you are caught propagating it or instigating others to follow you, you will be arrested and prosecuted no matter how highly placed you might be.