• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

Second Coronavirus Death: Anxiety over FG’s silence on identity

Osagie Emmanuel Ehanire

The Federal Government’s refusal to disclose the identity of the second dead victim of coronavirus in the country has created anxiety and palpable fears.

Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, had revealed on Monday that the country recorded the  second fatility at the joint press conference by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.

He said the second fatality which was recorded over the weekend was  that of a patient who had severe underline illnesses.

According to Ehanire, “As of today the 30th of March 2020, we have recorded 111 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria of which 68 are in Lagos, 21 FCT, seven in Oyo, three in Ogun, two in Bauchi, two in Edo, two in Osun, two in Enugu and one each in Benue, Ekiti, Kaduna and Rivers States.

“Majority of them are persons who came from overseas and others have been traced as close contacts of such returnees.

The anxiety is coming as government rebuffed every attempt to get the identity of the victim from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC.

All  inquiries made by Businessday to get the true identity from the officials were ignored.

Nigerians are now attempting to fill the vacuum by speculating that the ugly incidence occurred at the Abuja treatment centre, while some are of the view that it happened at the Lagos treatment centre.

Some are now using the social media to disseminate rumours indicating that  Chief Executive Officer of Fancy Hotel, Owerri, Imo State, one Christogonus Aguwa Osuagwu, who it was alleged,” just came back from Europe, where Corona Virus is ravaging.”

“The CEO of Fancy Hotel Owerri, Mr. Christogonus Aguwa Osuagwu who just came back from Europe, where Corona Virus is ravaging had died. Instead of subjecting himself to test, he flew to Abuja where he died on Monday.”

It was alleged that ” all efforts by NCDC to trace him proved abortive. Even the DSS went to his hotel to look for him to force him to quarantine centre but couldn’t find him.

“His hotel located at Umuguma in Owerri had been shut down today by the Imo State Government while all the guests quarantined. His immediate family whom he visited in Ahiazu Mbaise as soon as he came back from Europe have also been quarantined. ”

As at the time of filing in this report, NCDC has not been able confirm or dismiss this rumour either at the time of sending this report.”

“The high number of cases in Lagos and Abuja , according to Ehanire, is due to their function as country gateways for air travel.

“Till date, three persons have been discharged after successful treatment but sadly another fatality was recorded over weekend in the person of a patient who has severe underline illnesses.

Ehanire however said government has intensified contact tracing adding that ”  our strategy remains to promptly  detect cases, isolate them and follow up with their contacts and also isolate and treat in other to reduce the spread of the infection.”

The health minister said more testing sites were on their way. possible.

He said: “With new additions to the case definition, persons with fever and either cough, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath in an area of medium or high prevalence of COVID-19, can test for the disease.

“To meet the demand that will arise as a result of this expansion of the case definition, the NCDC has added a new laboratory to its network of molecular laboratories for COVID-19 is the Virology Laboratory of University College Hospital, Oyo State. We project that in three weeks, seven more labs in Abakiliki, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt and Sokoto will be added to this network to further expand testing capacity.

Tony Ailemen, Abuja