Panic As 13 More Imo Lawmakers Test Positive For COVID-19

Thirteen more members of the Imo State House of Assembly have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

The spokesman for the State Task Force on COVID-19, Chinedu Iwuala, confirmed this to Channels Television on Tuesday.

This brings the total number of lawmakers in the state who are COVID-19 positive to 14.

The infected lawmakers have gone into self-isolation and the State Assembly Complex in Owerri has remained shut since the first lawmaker was diagnosed with the virus.

This comes one week after the state government shut down the Assembly for two weeks.

The Chairman of the State Task Force on COVID-19, Professor Maurice Iwu, had confirmed the COVID-19 status of the first infected lawmakers on Tuesday last week while briefing reporters in Owerri, the state capital.

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The samples of all other lawmakers and their aides were taken to the laboratory for COVID-19 test, but the results of 13 more members of the Assembly came back positive.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 675 new cases of COVID-19 across the country.

It noted that the new cases were confirmed in 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

They included Lagos – 288, Oyo – 76, Rivers – 56, Delta – 31, Ebonyi – 30, Gombe – 28, Ondo – 20, Kaduna – 20, Kwara – 20, Ogun – 17, FCT – 16, Edo – 13, Abia – 10, Nasarawa – nine, Imo – nine, Bayelsa – eight, Borno – eight, Katsina – eight, Sokoto – three, Bauchi – three, Plateau – two.

As of 11pm on Monday, Nigeria has 20,919 confirmed cases of coronavirus out of which 7,109 patients have been successfully treated and discharged while 525 have died.