Sixteen medical doctors in Lagos State have tested positive for the deadly Coronavirus, the Medical Guild said on Monday.
The Medical Guild is an association of doctors are under the employ of the Lagos State Government.
It said that the guild members were frontline in the state’s battle against the viral infection and that efforts of the medical practitioners had resulted in 16 infected doctors who had been admitted into several isolation centers across Lagos.
Dr. Oluwajimi Sodipo, Chairman, Medical Guild, said there was the possibility possibility of a higher number of doctos being infected, but said data available to the body suggested that only 16 had so far been confirmed coronavirus positive.
Sodipo said that doctors were actively engaged in training, contact tracing, surveillance, public enlightenment and case management of coronavirus patients, and that the frontline activities of the healthcare professionals significantly increased possibility of disease transmission.
According to him, rising incidence of the viral pandemic in the state, as well as the commencement of community transmission among residents had given rise to a situation in which everyone was at risk of contracting the deadly infection.
He added that in order to mitigate the risks of rising infection in the state, the government needed to increase testing capacity and ramp up contact tracing with aim to curb further spread of the pandemic and reduce health workers exposure to the viral disease.
