Westernars

There is anxiety among workers of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (AUTH) as a patient admitted into the hospital’s casualty ward tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19). A source within the hospital told The Nation that the patient, a man, was admitted on April 25, 2020. It was learnt that when he started showing symptoms of COVID-19, the officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) attached to the isolation centre at the hospital were promptly invited to take his samples for test. The source said when the test came out positive, the workers ran away, leaving other patients in the ward. “The patient was admitted on Saturday evening and those on duty took his medical history. But it did not include cough and fever. It was when the medical team came that it was included. “However, when his temperature became high on Sunday, the workers nursing him raised the alarm and the NCDC officials were immediately notified. They came and took his sample on Sun...

May 1, 2020 The fear of lack of bed space for coronavirus patients at isolation centres has gripped the government. There are 3,500 bed spaces at the various isolation and treatment centres in the country. These will became inadequate given the anticipated spike in positive cases as a result of the planned testing of two million people. Lagos, which is the epicentre of the pandemic in the country, with close to 1,000 case as at Thursday, out of which 718 are active and 192 discharged, is worst-hit. It has about 540 bed spaces, at the five official isolation centres, excluding the spaces at private facilities including the one in Badagry. The government is now seeking the possibility of home treatment. Besides, owners of uncompleted buildings or empty property are urged to donate them to the government for use. Speaking at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) media briefing in Abuja on Thursday, Minister of Health Dr. Osagie Ehanire said: “It is true that we are getting a s...

Seventeen states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for the 204 Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases confirmed last night by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). With Thursday’s confirmation, the national tally is 1932, out of which 319 patients have been discharged and 58 deaths recorded. The NCDC gave the breakdown as Kano (80); Lagos (45), Gombe (12); nine each in Bauchi and Sokoto; Borno and Edo (seven each); Rivers and Ogun (six each) and four each in FCT, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa. Three cases were confirmed in Kaduna, two each in Oyo, Delta and Nasarawa while Ondo and Kebbi recorded one case each.