Posted on: Thu 23-04-2020

ADAMAWA State has recorded its first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus disease. The index case is a middle aged man who recently returned from Kano and went into self isolation after suffering bouts of cough.

He shortly afterwards submitted himself for screening where health officials took his blood samples for testing. However, health officials with the state COVID-19 response team on Wednesday confirmed the case positive and took him to the state isolation centre.

The man, who spoke from the isolation centre, said, “Officials of the state COVID-19 containment have informed me that my samples tested positive for the virus.” The man had travelled in his private car to Yola exactly a week ago, after the state relaxed its restriction order.

Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, in his state broadcast informing the state about the index case, regretted that the development had put the state “formally on the COVID-19 map.”

The governor, who described the development as a challenge for the state’s containment strategy, added it would reappraise strategy while urging residents to prepare for total lockdown in due course. The governor also said the boundaries would be firmly closed to interstate crossings. Bashiru Ahmad, chairman of the state COVID-19 containment committee, had yet respond to calls to confirm the first case.

Source: Punch

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