Nigeria loses 14 doctors to COVID-19

The Federal Government Thursday disclosed that 14 doctors trying to save lives from COVID-19 in the country had died of the virus.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said the affected doctors were among the 985 fatalities recorded as of Wednesday.

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“This morning, Nigerians woke up to the stark reality that the nation’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 have crossed the 50,000 mark standing at 50,488 and a death toll of 985 bringing Nigeria close to the unenviable record of 1,000 fatalities.

“These records are not landmarks to be celebrated especially as every single death further underscores the grief and pains of families and friends, scuttled lives that could have contributed to national development and abridging God’s purpose for the lost soul.

“This is aptly demonstrated by the fact that 14 of these paid the supreme sacrifice as they were doctors who toiled daily to save lives. We would continually pray for the repose of all the lost souls and work to ensure that their deaths are not in vain,” Mustapha said.

According to him, the most edifying tribute and respect Nigerians can pay to these people is to do the basic minimum in avoiding such fatalities.

The SGF expressed concern over the recent cases of COVID-19 infection among students writing the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations, stressing the need for more vigilance by the education sector and everyone else.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said only 1280 passengers would be allowed to fly into the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, when international flight operations start on August 29.

Sirika, represented by the Director-General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Musa Nuhu, said the government would ban countries that had banned Nigerians from flying to those countries.

“The conditions you give Nigerians who travel to your country will be applied. If you ban us from coming to your country, the same will apply the other way,” he said.

“So, we are working on the logistics and the process on how to determine which flights will be allowed to come and that should be done by tomorrow and hopefully, by Monday we will get everything in place.”

He noted that the International Civil Aviation Organisation did not recommend quarantine of crew.

“What we have in place is that the crew goes to the hotel, they stay in their hotel rooms and they isolate from mixing and whenever they are ready, they go to the airports and they jump into the plane and go,” he said.