The Borno State Committee on the Control and Prevention of COVID-19 has launched an aggressive hunt for contacts of the dead index case in the state.
To this end, a total of 64 persons have so far been traced and their samples tested.
Out of the number, 55 of them came out negative and 9 came positive as at Wednesday daily media briefing by the Chairman of the committee who is also the deputy Governor, Hon. Umar Kadafur Thursday.
“A total of 64 tests have so far been carried out on persons believed to have had contacts with Borno’s index case, from which 50 persons have tested negative, while nine tested positive, Deputy Governor and chairman of the high-powered response team,” Umar Kadafur has said.
Hon. Kadafur added that 5 results were being awaited from the 64 tests carried out, while 11 additional samples have been collected from Pulka where the index case emanated and have been sent for testing.
As at the time of briefing the press Thursday, the nine Positive cases were already captured by the National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC on Tuesday night.
On a sad note, another case of death according to the deputy governor was added to the list of Borno cases.
He said; “on a sad note, an infected citizen has died. The citizen, who was transferred from Biu to Maiduguri, had tested positive in Gombe, after his return from Lagos. Although he died at an isolation centre in Maiduguri, his death will remain under Gombe at NCDC’s update since he was tested there. The deceased died at the age 41. He was said to have been hit hard by the infection before he was moved to the centre”, Kadafur explained.
Kadafur, said a total of 144 persons have been identified and are being aggressively traced by the state covid-19 surveillance team.
He also announced that the contact tracing team sent to Pulka will return today, Thursday, 23rd April and details will be provided later in the day.
The Deputy Governor also called on Borno citizens not to stigmatize persons infected with COVID-19 or their families, noting such stigmatization will heighten resistance of patients from being moved to government isolation and treatment centres.
He called on citizens to show empathy to infected persons rather than show disregard for them.
On his part, the Information Commissioner, Babakura Abba Jato in his comments, announced that coalition of civil societies in the state has set up a situation room as part of its contributions. He announced emergency phone numbers: 09072127272 and 09068685158 through which citizens can make contacts on medical issues relating to Covid-19.
