The Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu has tested positive for Covid-19. Last week he announced that 2 of aides had tested positive for the virus.
Gov. Ikpeazu has become the fourth governor to test positive for the virus in Nigeria. The 3 govervors who have tested positive for Covid-19 are Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna, Seyi Makinde of Oyo, and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi. They have all been reported to have recovered from the virus.
Governor Ikpeazu’s result, was announced in a statement issued by the state’s Commissioner of Information, John Kalu on Monday. According to Kalu, the Governor’s result returned positive after he submitted sample twice, on 30 May and 4 June.
”Recall that on Saturday, 30th May, 2020, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu volunteered his sample for COVID-19 test and subsequently directed members of the state Executive Council (EXCO) and those of the inter ministerial committee on COVID-19 to submit themselves for the same test. On Tuesday, 2nd June, 2020. The result of Governor Ikpeazu’s test returned negative,” Kalu said.
“On Thursday, 4th June, 2020, the Governor submitted another sample at the Nigeria Center For Disease Control (NCDC) laboratory for confirmation and the result returned positive.”
The commissioner said that Gov Ikpeazu has gone into isolation following the result and has directed the Deputy Governor, RT Hon Ude Oko Chukwu to act on his behalf.
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“As a result, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has gone into isolation, as required by relevant NCDC protocols, and he is being managed by a competent team of medical practitioners with a view to nursing him back to good health.“
“Consequent on the above, the Governor has directed his Deputy, Rt Hon Ude Oko Chukwu, to act on his behalf pending his full resumption of duties.”
On Sunday, Abia state recorded the highest number of daily confirmed Covid-19 cases. 67 cases of Covid-19 was reported in the state out of 260 new cases confirmed in the country Sunday. according to NCDC.
Nigeria has recorded a total of 12,486 cases of Covid-19 with 354 deaths and 3,959 recoveries. However, there are concerns that the number of cases in the country will much higher, as there is limited number of testing in the country, with total of 76,802 samples tested in the country since the put break began.
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As at 2 June, only 250 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the entire Abia State, according to the last report on tests per state released by NCDC. The state has confirmed total of 83 cases of Covid-19 out of which 7 persons have recovered. No Coronavirus death has been recorded in the state.
NCDC Situation report as at 6 June 2020 shows that, 74% of the confirmed cases in Nigeria has an unknown exposure. This suggests that there is high level of community transmission in Nigeria.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze