COVID-19: NCDC Driver, NDLEA Officer Test Positive

Two personnel of two government agencies; the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency tested positive for coronavirus.

In Nasarawa State, the state governor, Abdullahi Sule disclosed while briefing newsmen on COVID-19 updates in the state on Tuesday, that an NCDC driver tested positive for the disease in the state.

Sule explained that the NCDC driver used to transport samples of persons believed to have been infected with COVID-19 in the state. “The affected driver who lives in Ado village of Karu Local Government Area of the state has been relocated to COVID-19 Isolation Centre at the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi for treatment,” he added.

In similar development, an NDLEA officer was confirmed as the second case of the deadly virus, six weeks after the index case was recorded in Benue State.

Governor, Samuel Ortom of Benue State announced the new case at a news conference in the Government House, Makurdi, the state capital, on Tuesday.

Ortom explained that the victim came into Benue from Kano towards the end of April, adding that the victim had already been taken to the state’s isolation centre at Benue State University Teaching Hospital, BSUTH, Makurdi.

The governor stated: “It is unfortunate that I stand before you this morning to announce to you and Benue people that another case of COVID-19 has come to the state. His name is (name withheld). He is an indigene of Benue but works with the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, Kano State Command.

“He came to Makurdi towards April ending and was immediately traced, quarantined and his sample taken to Abuja for a test but when the result came out, he tested positive.

“It is fortunate that the victim is cooperating with the state and I want to assure people that anybody with this kind of condition will not be neglected. Therefore, I want to urge everyone who had come into the state to come forward and present themselves to the committee for necessary action in their best interest.

“There is nothing wrong having you tested; even myself as a governor, I have tested for the disease but it came out negative while other governors tested positive. COVID-19 has no medicine but the medicine but its cure, for now, is to stay at home, maintain social distancing.”

He further stated that an investigation would be carried by the state committee to uncover how the victim transported himself to the state despite the lockdown across the nation.