No fewer than 75 persons had contact with the COVID-19 cases in Kwara state as well as the suspected case at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).
Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq said this during a press briefing while he also ordered the immediate suspension of Prof Alakija Salami of the University of Ilorin Teaching (UITH) for alleged professional misconduct.
Abdulrazaq said: “Yesterday evening, April 6, 2020, we received the official report from the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) of samples earlier taken to the Ibadan test centre. The test confirmed that the Kwara state now has two cases of COVID-19. The first is the wife of a man who recently returned from the United Kingdom (UK).
“The second case is a diabetic patient who also had a travel history to the UK. He came into the country on March 18. He has since gone into self-isolation with his wife.
“Following reasonable suspicion, sample was taken from him and he has now been confirmed positive.
“COVID-19 is a global pandemic. Contracting it is neither a death sentence nor or an indication of guilt. We urge Kwarans to avoid crowded space, isolate themselves and call our helplines if they have just returned from places of interest in the last three weeks.
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“The government is extending the ongoing fumigation exercise to these places of interest, including the relevant locations in Offa and Ilorin, where contamination may have occurred as a result of this infectious disease.
“Notwithstanding our preparation, we are not ashamed to say that Kwara state will be glad to get all the help it can receive at this moment. We commend everyone who has been doing so much in this regard and we call for more.
“As part of our efforts to flatten the curve of transmission, I have signed the newly prepared Kwara State Infectious Diseases (Emergency Prevention) Regulation 2020 on Monday, April 6th to provide legal backings for the local management of the global health situation.
“This is an emergency and the regulation, built around some enabling laws like the Quarantine Act of 2004, empowers us to invoke various drastic measures in the days ahead, if occasion calls for it.
“Highlights of the regulation include sanctions for anyone caught endangering public safety in whatever form or seeking to unfairly profit from our collective vulnerability and need for essential commodities at this time.
“The government is doubling down in the ongoing sensitisation of the public across all media platforms on the danger of this virus. We need everyone to join this public advocacy in their various localities without exposing themselves or others to danger.
“The government is utterly disappointed at the breach of trust that played out in the UITH case. Without prejudice to the internal investigation by UITH, we demand immediate suspension of Prof Alakija Kazeem Salami and every other official of UITH whose professional misconducts brought us down this path pending the outcome of the ongoing probe.”
