Edo State government on Wednesday alerted the public to the rising COVID-19 infections among the younger population; urging residents to adhere to the preventive measures in order curtail the spread and prevent deaths.
Pius Ononigwe, Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) representative in Edo State, raised the alarm at the daily COVID-19 update in Benin City.
Ononigwe said there is a high distribution of cases seen in ages from 21 to 30 as against the distribution of cases that used to be centred more between ages 31 and 40 in the first and second wave.
“As we begin to see cases in younger population, deaths may also be possible in this younger population. The general population is now at risk and these measures must be something everybody must adhere to,”Ononigwe said.
Corroborating, Ebomwonyi Osagie, head of the state’s COVID-19 case management, said the test positivity rate has increased to 19.2 percent, noting that the virus is now spreading among young persons who in turn transmit it to their parents and elderly ones.
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Osagie said, in the last 24 hours, it had confirmed 65 new cases, recorded four new deaths which has taken the total number of confirmed COVID-19-related deaths in the third wave of the pandemic in the state to 30.
Among the new deaths recorded, he said three were unvaccinated while one was vaccinated in the United States of America but died from several complications that was aggravated by the viral infection.
Earlier, Osamwonyi Irowa, permanent secretary, Edo State ministry of health, said “we are seeing deaths coming on every day. Yesterday, we lost four persons and one of them is below 50 years of age which means young persons are at risk of dying.”
“No medications, even outside vaccines, can give you 100 percent performance. We have a percentage ascribe to all medical treatments, including vaccines”, he added.
