No fewer than 14 health workers have tested positive to the rampaging Covid-19 pandemic while treating patients in Katsina State.
Governor Aminu Bello Masari, who disclosed this Monday while briefing journalists, said 10 of the infected medical personnel are from the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, while four are from a private hospital in the state.
He said the 14 infected health personnel are doctors and nurses that treated patients who came to their hospitals with normal symptoms that later tuned to be Covid-19 pandemic.
The governor announced that the state has recorded 37 new confirmed cases of the deadly disease, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 75.
He reaffirmed that out of the 37 newly confirmed cases, 22 are from Katsina Local Government and one from Daura Local Government.
He said:
“Based on the samples that were taken on 2nd to 4th April, 2020, we have a total of 37 confirmed new cases. So far, we have 75 positive cases, out of them six has been discharged from the isolation centres.
“The 37 new cases that were recorded, 14 are medical staff — doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff — but these are not medical personnel working directly with the Covid-19 patients.
“These were doctors and nurses that treated patients who came with the normal symptoms that later tuned out to be Covid-19. Ten of them are in Federal Medical Centre and four in a private hospital.
“The remaining 23 out of the 37 except one from Daura, all the 22 are in Katsina. We still have over 80 samples that we have taken from Daura yesterday (Sunday).”
He called on the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), to as a matter of urgency, establish a testing centre in Katsina State to ensure speedy testing of suspected persons in order to combat the spread of Covid-19.
Masari, who expressed displeasure over the inability of residents to adhere to the lockdown order imposed by government, said henceforth, government would deal decisively with anyone found culpable.