Just In:Kano Patients Hold Doctors, Nurse Hostage As Nigeria Records 3912 Cases, 117 Deaths

Two doctors and a nurse were on Thursday held hostage by COVID-19 patients at the Kwanar Dawaki Isolation Centre in Kano State.

Former chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Kano branch, Aminu Mohammed, stated this on a radio programme yesterday.

The health workers were on ward-round when the patients locked them up in a room for hours, according to Mohammed, but the

Mohammed said health workers who are battling with inadequate personal protective equipment (PPEs) still have challenges managing hostile patients.

He appealed to the public to cooperate with doctors and nurses and not discourage them in the line of duty.

However, Head of Kano COVID-19 Technical Response Team Tijjani Husaini, said he was not aware of the incident.

In a similar development,

The NCDC also noted that 679 of the 3,912 cases have been successfully treated and discharged, while 117 cases have resulted in deaths.

Earlier on Friday, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said that isolation and treatment centres in the country are running out of bed spaces.

“We have received reports from the states, which suggests that the treatment centres are running out of bed spaces,” Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, said.

“As we assess the situation, the PTF shall also begin to examine our peculiar circumstances, modify the strategies for care management, and consider viable alternatives, where necessary. At the appropriate time, the guidelines and protocols shall be unfolded.”

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 271,780 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT on Friday.

More than 3,896,790 cases were registered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,268,000 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.

Since Thursday at 1900 GMT, there have been 4,862 new deaths and 90,352 new infections recorded worldwide.

The United States recorded the highest number of new deaths with 1,257, followed by Britain with 626 and Brazil with 610.

The US also has the highest number of total deaths with 76,101 out of 1,271,775 cases. At least 195,036 have been declared recovered.

Britain now has the second-highest toll with 31,241 deaths from 211,364 cases.

It is followed by Italy with 30,201 deaths and 217,185 cases, Spain with 26,299 fatalities and 222,857 infections and France with 26,230 deaths and 174,791 cases — although French authorities did not update the country’s number of infections on Friday.

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Belgium, with 74 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Spain with 56, Italy 50, Britain 46 and France 40.

China — excluding Hong Kong and Macau — has to date declared 4,633 deaths and 82,886 cases. It has 77,993 recovered cases.

Europe has a total of 153,690 deaths from 1,681,558 cases, the United States and Canada have 80,754 deaths and 1,338,087 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean have 17,520 deaths and 324,309 cases, Asia has 10,163 deaths and 277,011 cases, the Middle East has 7,423 deaths and 212,644 cases, Africa has 2,105 deaths from 54,944 cases, and Oceania 125 deaths from 8,245 cases.

Please note that due to corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24-hour period may not correspond exactly to the previous day’s tallies.