Oyo Confirms First Coronavirus Case

Oyo State has recorded its first confirmed case of coronavirus.

This was disclosed by the state governor, Seyi Makinde in the early hours of Sunday.

In a series of tweets, the governor noted that the case involved the UK returnee whose sample was sent for testing and has now returned positive. Adding that public health officials in the state are collaborating with the University College Hospital UCH, Ibadan’s team on the case.

He wrote: “The COVID-19 confirmation test for the suspected case at Bodija has come back POSITIVE. The result was released at 17:35 PM of March 21, 2020.

“A follow up on the Ekiti COVID-19 case revealed that the deceased was picked up directly from Lagos Airport to a private apartment in Ona Ara Local Government Area.

“The Health Authorities have contacted the family concerned and the community has been alerted for intensified contact tracing and self-isolation of identified close contacts. The information given that he stayed in some hotels in Ibadan has been found to be false.

“Another returnee from Texas, USA, has also been identified at Oluyole Local Government Area. She has been kept in self-isolation with close monitoring by the State Epidemiological Team. All recent returnees are again urged to identify themselves to Ministry Officials and self-isolate for 14 days.

“We have released funds for: a. Activation of Emergency Operation Centre at the Ministry of Health; establishment of Diagnostic Centre for screening of Coronavirus and other related infectious diseases to be stationed at the UCH, Ibadan; equipping of the newly designated Oyo State Infectious Disease Centre at Olodo that has the capacity for over 100 cases.”

This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria to 23.