The Director-Generalof the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, has said that the agency’s officials who got infected with COVID-19 in the course of deity are currently working from isolation centres in the country.
The DG who spoke during the presidential task force briefing on COVID-19 on Wednesday, said that he visited some of them, cheering them up.
Ihekweazu said:
“Yesterday after work, I spoke to a number of people in my team that had sadly become infected themselves as part of the response in the line of duty.”
“I called them to encourage them, but they ended up encouraging me and encouraging this PTF to keep pushing. That our work was so important for the future of our country and they wanted to keep at it.
“So even as they are isolated and some of them in hospitals, they are on their laptops working, contributing to the response. They said it is better to do that than to sit idly watching TV or thinking about their fate.”
Ihekweazu, who refused to disclose the identity of the officials said: “this is not a question that anyone would answer. I never give out that type of information. We ask you to continue supporting all health care workers across the country, whether they are NCDC staff, federal ministry of health staff, Lagos state government staff or even private physicians.
“Some of them have actually been private physicians that managed patients without initially knowing that they had the COVID-19. So we actually ask for support for all of them. Not just one category or the other.”