Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has announced the indefinite closure of a private hospital where the two index cases of the coronavirus in the state were receiving medical attention before their referral to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Umuahia.

Ikpeazu, in a media briefing in Umuahia, the state capital, added that all the medical staffers and patients on admission at the yet-to-be-named private in the hospital would remain quarantined until the result of their samples returns back from the NCDC centre.

ABN TV reports the state recorded two index cases of COVID-19 on Monday 20th April 2020, which sent jitters to many residents.

The Governor gave the ages of the two index cases as70 and 72, adding they had underlying medical ailment ranging from “High blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and heart failure”.

He pointed out that the state has started massive contact tracing of all persons, who had contact with the index cases in Ikwuano, Ukwa West, and Umuahia North Local Government Areas of the state.

Ikpeazu insisted that the sit-at-home order and border closure in the state remains to bind, adding that the state would treat anybody flouting the order as sabotage, adding that mobile courts would be set to bring offenders to book.

According to him: “The two index cases has made it clear that COVID-19 is real and we had provided two isolation centres in Aba and Umuahia with the capacity taking about 50 patients with ventilators and oxygen to care for COVID-19 patients before now.

“We are also lucky that the Federal Medical Centre in Umuahia has an additional isolation centre to care for patients of COVID-19 pandemic.

“These two index cases have placed an additional burden on us to enforce all the Nigeria centre for disease control guidelines to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

“Since the index cases are aged people with no history of travelling outside the state in recent times, we suspect community infection unless our studies prove otherwise.

“We, therefore, urged our people not to panic, but they should wash their hands regularly with soap and running water, use hand sanitizers, wear face masks and maintain social distancing in the public and stay at home”.

The Ekiti State government has identified the fourth case of coronavirus in the state as a medical doctor.

The government said on Tuesday that the medical doctor was working with a private clinic before contracting the virus while treating the third index case, a 29-year old pregnant woman.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Mojisola Yaya-Kolade, who made these known to newsmen in Ado Ekiti, said only one doctor tested positive, with 15 others turning out negative among the samples taken to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

”We have one doctor who tested positive and he is being treated at the isolation centre, but others were negative,” he said.

Reacting to the development, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in the state expressed shock, calling for adequate protection for medical workers in the state through the provision of life insurance and other measures.

The association, however, expressed happiness over the news that 15 other doctors working with the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, tested negative, describing this as cheering news.

The NMA State Chairman, Dr Tunji Omotayo, also said there was a need for government to boost the welfare of health workers working on the frontline in fighting the coronavirus.

NAN

One of President Muhammadu Buhari’s bodyguards, Warrant Officer Lawal Mato, on Tuesday, passed away.

He died after three years of struggling with diabetes, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, announced in a statement.

The President described the officer, who had been working with him for many years before he won the 2015 elections, as “very thorough, trustworthy and dependable soldier who carried out his duties with diligence and focus.’’

He prayed that Allah would ease his passage to paradise and grant his family, government and people of Jigawa State the fortitude to bear the loss.

Warrant Officer Mato was part of a team that former President Umaru Musa Yar’adua restored to President Buhari as personal security and he had been of full duty for three years due to his ailment.