Federal government said the Coronavirus pandemic has had a strong negative impact on the youths, as 46 percent of positive cases in the country are young people between ages 21-40.
Minister of Health, Ehanire Osagie, stated this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, regular briefings on Thursday, in Abuja
The government which stated that it has a target to test 1 percent of the population across the country, added that “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”.
It also revealed that 70 percent of all the tests conducted have been carried out in 9 states including Lagos, Kano, FCT, Plateau, Oyo, Kaduna, Edo Ogun Rivers, while lagos alone, accounted for 25 percent of the tests.
. “I 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”.
The Minister expressed concern over the resurgence of infection among healthcare workers, but assured that efforts are ongoing to train and retrain health workers on infection prevention and control.
“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”.
“We shall continue to work with state governments to ramp up case findings and sample collection activities”.
The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 , Boss Mustapha, also disclosed that total of 684 persons representing 5% of those who tested positive out of the 13,844 evacuees tested so far are youths
Mustapha also disclosed that of 14,906 evacuees received during this COVID-19 pandemic, close to 80% are youths
” We are glad that only 684 tested positive to the coronavirus out of the 13,844 so far tested are youths
Nigeria is however expected to receive more evacuees in coming days from different parts of the world.
The country recently entered the second week of the extended eased lock down phase, with the PTF promising to continues to monitor global and National trends in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
” For us in Nigeria, we shall remain focused on propagating the use of proven avoidance methods to break the transmission of the virus and effective case management to care for and treat infected persons.
Mustapha however advised Nigeria business men to take advantage of the stimulus parkage contained in the Federal government economic sustainability plan to boost their businesses
” This week, the United Kingdom would be going into a recession after its economy suffered a slump in growth by a record 20% in the second quarter.
“I wish to remind all Nigerians that ahead of such occurrence, our Government had put in place an Economic Sustainability Plan backed by a stimulus package in the sum of N2.6 trillion to boost local economies, production and for all sizes of businesses including small family businesses. I therefore urge our businesses to take advantage of the stimulus package to revive and/or boost their businesses. We cannot afford to let our economy slide.”
Mustapha applauded the United States of America for making good, the promise made by President Donald Trump to donate medical equipment, donating 200 ventilators to Nigeria as a support in the fight against the COVID-19.
“Nigeria recognizes the fact that the pandemic is a global challenge and particularly, it has impacted the United States of America in several ways, yet the bond of friendship has prevailed. This sacrifice and support to Nigeria is very much appreciated.
He assured the Government and people of the United States that these ventilators, like other materials received from our various partners, would be judiciously deployed and transparently managed.
