Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, on Thursday, disclosed that at least 113 health workers have contracted coronavirus and tested positive for the disease.

Ehanire, who spoke at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said not less than 113 of the health workers have come down with the COVID-19 infection across the country.

The minister, therefore, advised that only healthcare workers who have undergone good training in infectious diseases control should be handling cases of COVID-19 and coronavirus patients.

According to him, nobody is forced or conscripted in the fight against coronavirus, therefore, it was important for those healthcare workers who feel they cannot handle the outbreak to speak up.

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The minister said: “There are not so many people in the health sector who are infected. Latest figures we have is that there are about 113 and they are not all public health workers. There are good numbers from private hospitals.

“If you hear us speaking here frequently against trying to treat coronavirus in private clinics, we are actually referring to those people who do so without having necessary precautions and training because they risk infecting themselves and go home and give this infection to their families.

“Healthcare workers who have no training have no business handling coronavirus. As for those who do not have protective equipment, we have said that we have provided personal protective equipment (PPE) for those who are out there.

“It is important for healthcare workers to understand that nobody is forced or conscripted to handle the coronavirus.

Those who cannot handle it have the option of requesting to be excused and someone else will come in. The pressure on healthcare workers if they have a crisis can be quite severe and I do think that mental health counseling can be extended to those who feel they are impacted in that way.”

Due to the need to test more people, he pointed out that the government has increased the daily laboratory testing capacity to 2,500 in the 15 molecular diagnosis laboratories across the country.