The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has so far infected 143 health workers, including doctors in various parts of Edo State. This is even as the state recorded 72 new cases of coronavirus in the last 72 hours.
The State’s COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr. Andrew Obi, disclosed this in a virtual meeting of the State COVID-19 Taskforce, chaired by the state Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
He said the 72 new cases recorded in the last 72 hours were reported from a total of 640 samples collected within the time frame, adding that the state currently has 306 active cases.
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He added that within the 72-hour period, there were 34 new recoveries and three new deaths.
According to Obi, ’44 of the 72 new cases were reported at the Real-Time PCR Laboratory at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), while 28 were reported at Laboratory at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH).’
Noting that the number of health workers infected has increased significantly, he said, ‘143 healthcare workers have been infected since the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 in the state. 110 of them are workers at ISTH, while 33 are staff of UBTH.’
He said since the outbreak of the second wave in the first week of December last year, the state has recorded 565 confirmed cases, with 248 recoveries and 15 deaths.
Obi added that there has been a 73.3 percent rise in numerical death of elderly persons, constituting two-thirds of the total death recorded in the state from COVID-19.
Health workers have since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic been disproportionately affected by the crisis, but the WHO said Tuesday their high infection levels had finally begun to subside.
While the coronavirus crisis has taken a heavy toll overall, data from many countries and regions show that healthcare workers have been infected at a far higher rate than the general population.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK