COVID-19: Youths Constitute 46% of positive cases in Nigeria

COVID-19: Youths Constitute 46% of positive cases in Nigeria

As of 13th August, 2020, 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.

2. Our target remains to test 1% of our population across the country. As of today, more than 70% of all the tests conducted have been in 9 states including Lagos, Kano, FCT, Plateau, Oyo, Kaduna, Edo Ogun Rivers with 25% of the tests in Lagos alone. We shall continue to work with state governments to ramp up case findings and sample collection activities.

3. Yesterday, August 12th, 2020 Nigeria joined the rest of the world to celebrate this years United Nations’ International Youth Day with the theme “Youth Engagement for Global Action” which seeks to highlight the ways in which the engagement of young people at the local, national and global levels is enriching national and multilateral institutions. It was also an opportunity to take stock of the contributions of young people to national development. It was also a day to reflect on the contributions of young people to our response plan. I wish to commend some our youths who have supported community mobilization and risk communication through the social media and community engagement.

4. This pandemic has had its impact on our young people. As at yesterday, 46% of positive cases in the country are young people between ages 21-40. I will therefore 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.

5. We are concerned by the resurgence of infection in healthcare workers. In a bid to sustain the gains we have made in reducing the rate of infection among our health workers, we have made training and retraining of health workers on infection prevention and control.

6. 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.

Dr. Osagie Ehanire
Minister of Health