19 health workers test positive for COVID-19 in Nebbi

By Felix Ogenrwoth

Two more frontline health workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nebbi district. The two are being managed under the home based care.
The two fresh cases bring the total to 19, the cumulative number of health workers who have so far tested positive for the disease in Nebbi district.
The 17 previous cases were discovered from five different facilities including; 8 from Nebbi general hospital, 5 from Akworo Health Center III, 4 cases from Angal Hospital, 1 from Goli Health Center IV and 1 case was got from a staff from Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI).
Nebbi district has registered a total of 312 positive cases of COVID-19, since its since its second wave with 33 related deaths.
Dr. Justin Okwairwoth, the acting district health officer Nebbi says that Nebbi general hospital have continued to register community alerts, but decries the inadequate Personal Protective Equipment PPEs in peripheral facilities.
“We are facing unpredictable times. Besides the few vaccines so far disbursed to us here, we are also faced with very few PPEs and it’s actually weighing down our health workers. It’s rather hard for many of our frontline workers to do their work without these equipment. It’s on this basis that we want to call upon development partners to come to our rescue now that what government delivers is actually not even enough for us”, he said.
The Chief Administrative Officer Nebbi CAO Wamburu David Wasikye appeals to members of the wider community including health workers to continuously follow the ministry of health guidelines to curb further spread of the disease.
“We have got emerging incidences of corona virus within our community. So that calls for more vigilance and enforcement of the Standard Operating procedures to the latter. It is not yet uhuru and it is not business as usual. The government has given us a number of simple guidelines to help protect ourselves against this disease. And this is both to the public and many of us in the hospitals”, he said.
A new study published in Lancet Public Health has found that front-line healthcare workers with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) have a three-fold increased risk of a positive COVID-19 test, compared to the general population.
Those with inadequate PPE had a further increase in risk. The study also found that healthcare workers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were more likely to test positive.

COVER PHOTO: Nebbi General hospital.