Kwara State government has said that it has so far tested 17, 581 for coronavirus out of an estimated total population of 3,694,079 people across the three senatorial district of the state.
Speaking at a sensitisation workshop by the Ministry of Health for journalists on the update of COVID-19 across the 16 Local Government Areas, the state epidemiologist, Dr Khadijah Kamaldeen, said that women have the highest confirmed cases at 53.6 per cent while men are at 46.4 per cent.
“The age range of people with the highest suspected cases are from 25 to 29 years of age,” she said.
Dr Kamaldeen also said that the state had equipped 12 testing laboratories across the 16 LGAs on coronavirus to cater for the teeming population.
“The testing centres is to afford people to go and test for their status, adding that some LGAs have higher burden cases of the coronavirus than others.
“The state had so far conducted sample test of about 17, 581 samples, with 2,096 confirmed cases as at fourth week of 2021,” she said.
She confirmed that 45 people had so far died of the diseases, with 385 active cases.
Kamaldeen explained that Ilorin South and Ilorin West Local Government Area had the highest confirmed cases while Patigi and Lafiagi Government Areas had no confirmed cases.
She, however, observed that the lack of cases of the disease in these LGAs may be due to low testing rate, as these communities were difficult-to-reach areas.
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The State Epidemiologist disclosed that the distribution of health care workers who tested positive for COVID-19 by cadre currently stands at 4.5 per cent for doctors, 2.8 per cent for nurses, 2.4 per cent for microbiologist, 0.4 per cent for attendants and 0.0 per cent for a physiotherapist.
“Therefore, 41 out of the 522 confirmed COVID-19 cases were healthcare workers as at week four of 2021,” she said.
Kamaldeen, therefore, appealed to people to make judicious use of these testing laboratories and get tested for the disease.
Also in her presentation, Mrs Fatimah Mustapha, the Risk Communicator, Community Engagement Focal Person for World Health Organization (WHO) asserted that COVID-19 has truly shown that the world is a global village.
She observed that the pandemic is increasing across the world and Nigeria is no exception while urging people to always adhere to the rules and guidelines against contracting the disease.
Mustapha also emphasised on the need to get tested, adding that knowing one’s status goes a long way to assist people in getting healthcare early.
She noted that the Federal Government is not resting as the first batch of vaccine would soon be arriving in the country.
It was gathered that some of the testing laboratories included General Hospital Afon in ASA LGA, General Hospital Okuta in Baruten LGA and General Hospital Lafiagi in Edu LGA, among others.
Women have highest confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Kwara ― State epidemiologist
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