By Joseph Akanbi
The Osun State Government has commenced immediate contact tracing for all the contacts of its first confirmed COVID-19 case, a returnee from the United Kingdom.
The Governor of the State, Gboyega Oyetola disclosed this at an emergency press briefing after the confirmation of the index case by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“Sadly, I want to say that we have the first confirmed case of the novel Coronavirus in the State.
“It was confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC. The case is a returnee from the United Kingdom and is currently receiving treatment”
“The sample was tested at NCDC accredited Testing Centre, the African Centre of Excellence in Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Ede, Osun and the result returned positive on Tuesday night.
“The Government had contacted the family of the patient and has since commenced contact tracing to identify people who might have been in contact with the confirmed case,” Governor Oyetola added.
The Governor also told reporters that the Government had anticipated a COVID-19 case since there were confirmed cases in adjoining States, such as Ekiti and Oyo.
He said the state had conducted several tests on suspicious cases, but they all turned negative.
“I want to passionately encourage all returnees from UK, US, Europe, the West African Coast and indeed other high risk countries to self-isolate and submit themselves to test, so as to assist the government in containing the spread of the virus.
“The Emergency number to call is 293. Other numbers are: 08035025692, 08033908772 and 08056456250.”
“As part of our efforts to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the State, we have set up holding centres and the one in Asubiaro Specialist Hospital, Osogbo, is up and running, to isolate and treat suspected and reported cases of the virus in the State”, he added.