Edo State has continued to record a spike in COVID-19 cases with the confirmation of 72 new cases in the last 72 hours. This is in addition to the 143 health workers that have been confirmed infected in the second wave of the pandemic. The Edo State COVID-19 Incident Manager, Dr Andrew Obi, made the disclosure during a virtual meeting of the Edo State COVID-19 Taskforce, chaired by Governor Godwin Obaseki.
According to Dr Obi, the 72 new cases were reported from the 640 samples collected within that time frame. In all, the state currently has 306 active cases, 34 recoveries and 3 deaths.
“44 of the 72 new cases were reported at the Real-Time PCR Laboratory at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), while 28 were reported at the Laboratory at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH).
“About 143 healthcare workers have been infected since the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 in the state of which 110 are workers at ISTH, while 33 are staff of UBTH”, he said.
He also added that the state has recorded 565 confirmed cases, 248 recoveries and 15 deaths since the outbreak of the second wave in the first week of December. According to him, there has been a 73.3 per cent rise in death of elderly persons, constituting two thirds of the total deaths recorded from COVID-19 in the state.
Most of the residents of the state who spoke to newsmen, said they are very optimistic that, in spite of the recent spike in the number of confirmed cases, the state would overcome in the battle against the dreaded virus. They hinged their optimism on what they called the proactive and methodical approach of the state government in tackling the pandemic.
Feelers from the state indicate that the Deputy Governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu had stormed the streets of the state in a bid to ensure that residents were complying with the state’s COVID-19 safety protocols. This is in addition to the fact that detectives have been deployed by the state government to ensure strict compliance.
