By Dele Moses, Ilorin
Confirmation of two cases of coronavirus and suspicion of the case in one other person has led Kwara State government to pick 75 other people for quarantine.
The state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, who disclosed this at a press conference on Tuesday said the 75 people were those who had contact with the two confirmed cases and the suspected case.
He explained that while the suspected case is a returnee from the United Kingdom who was admitted and died at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), the two confirmed cases are wife of the returnee and another person who also had a travel history to the UK.
Abdulrazaq, while explaining that being infected with the virus is not a death sentence or indication of guilt advised people of the state to isolate themselves and avoid crowded space and asked any one who returned from any place of interest in the last three weeks to call the helplines provided by the government
He stated: ‘Yesterday evening , April 6, 2020, we received the official report from the NCDC of samples earlier taken to the Ibadan test centre. The test confirmed that Kwara State now has two cases of COVID-19. The first is the wife of a man who recently returned from UK.
“The second case is a diabetic patient who also had a travel history to the UK. He came into the country on March 18. He has since gone into self isolation with his wife. Following reasonable suspicion, sample was taken from him and he has now been confirmed positive.
“Our job is cut out for us and we are definitely not dropping the ball. Contact tracing by the Rapid Response Team of the medical advisory committee has so far netted 75 persons who have had contacts with the cases and the suspected case at UITH.
“Fellow Kwarans, this is a trying moment for the whole of mankind. But we are definitely not helpless or without reasonable preparation in Kwara State. We are also blessed with committed professionals who are up to the task and willing to stand up and be counted at this time — while also taking all precautions.
“COVID-19 is a global pandemic. Contracting it is neither a death sentence nor an indication of guilt. We urge Kwarans to avoid crowded space, isolate themselves, and call our helplines if they have just returned from places of interest in the last three weeks. The government is extending the ongoing fumigation exercise to these places of interest, including the relevant locations in Offa and Ilorin, where contamination may have occurred as a result of this infectious disease. Notwithstanding our preparation, we are not ashamed to say that Kwara State will be glad to get all the help it can receive at this moment. We commend everyone who has been doing so much in this regard and we call for more.”
The Governor disclosed that he had signed into law the new Kwara State Infectious Diseases (Emergency Prevention) Regulation 2020 which enables the government to take more drastic measures against acts that could endager public safety.
“As part of our efforts to flatten the curve of transmission, I have signed the newly prepared Kwara State Infectious Diseases (Emergency Prevention) Regulation 2020 on Monday, April 6, to provide legal backings for the local management of the global health situation. This is an emergency and the regulation, built around some enabling laws like the Quarantine Act of 2004, empowers us to invoke various drastic measures in the days ahead, if occasion calls for it.
“Highlights of the regulation include sanctions for anyone caught endangering public safety in whatever form or seeking to unfairly profit from our collective vulnerability and need for essential commodities at this time.
‘The government is doubling down in the ongoing sensitisation of the public across all media platforms on the danger of this virus. We need everyone to join this public advocacy in their various localities without exposing themselves or others to danger,” he stated.
Abdulrazaq asked the management of the UITH to suspend all officers of the hospital who were involved in professional misconduct in admitting, managing the UK returnee without taking necessary steps they are required to take on suspected patient of coronavirus despite that the travel history and symptoms of ailment of the returnee suggested he might have contracted the virus
He stated: “The government is utterly disappointed at the breach of trust that played out in the UITH case. Without prejudice to the internal investigation by UITH, we demand immediate suspension of Professor Alakija Kazeem Salami and every other official of UITH whose professional misconducts brought us down this path pending the outcome of the ongoing probe.”
