Health workers infected with COVID-19 in Nigeria now 812 —NCDC DG

No fewer than 812 health workers in Nigeria have been infected with the dreaded COVID-19 virus while in the line of duty.

This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Director-General (DG) of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu.

He spoke during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, in Abuja.

Ihekweazu said out the 812 infected health workers that 29 of them were members of staff of the NCDC.

He said, “Crossing the 10,000 mark was quite a significant event, and every night when we work so hard to bring out those numbers, sometimes numbers begin to feel like what they are, that we forget that they are people behind each number.

Read also: COVID-19: Kano discharges 40 infected health workers

“We have had 812 healthcare workers infected. They are not just numbers. Twenty-nine (29) of them work for the NCDC. They are people I know who have families, wives and children. About eight (8) of them right now are in the Idu treatment center. They are not just numbers but they are people and they matter and we must remember.”

NCDC as at Tuesday night put the total number of confirmed cases of the pandemic in the country at 10,819.

Out of that number, 3,239 have recovered and discharged while 314 died.

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