The revelation was made by Chikwe Ihekweazu, the Director-General of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), who stated that over 812 health workers have contracted the COVID-19 virus in the course of their duties.
He shared this information during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on June 2.
According to Ihekweazu, 29 out of the 812 infected health workers are employees of the NCDC.
“Crossing the 10,000 mark was quite a significant event, and every night when we work so hard to bring out those numbers, sometimes numbers begin to feel like what they are, that we forget that they are people behind each number.
We have had 812 healthcare workers infected. They are not just numbers. Twenty-nine (29) of them work for the NCDC. They are people I know who have families, wives and children. About eight (8) of them right now are in the Idu treatment center. They are not just numbers but they are people and they matter and we must remember.” he said
Nigeria currently has a total of 10,578 confirmed cases of COVID-19.