There is anxiety in  Plateau State with the announcement on Sunday that 43 persons have been put under quarantine in Wase Local Government Area of the state over suspected cases of the dreaded coronavirus.

Dr. Nimkong Lar Ndam, the state Commissioner for Health said the 43 persons include 25  natives and 18 foreigners

According to him, those under quarantine include the four Chinese nationals announced yesterday. ,

“But what happened was that the people that came on the 26th February went to a village called Bakin Kaya, one of their mining sites in Wase and met their two Chinese colleagues there. The people they met were not comfortable and decided that they should be isolated and put in another apartment within the camp.”

The Commissioner, however, said it was decided that all of the Chinese national have to be isolated until March 10, 2020, adding that security agents there have been asked not to allow them to go out to mix with other members of the community.

He however added that that there is no coronavirus in Plateau at the moment but only suspicion, fear and anxiety.

Also speaking during the press conference, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Dan Manjang, emphasised that there is no known case of coronavirus in the state.

“There is no known case of coronavirus in Plateau State. You know, we have a mining site in Wase. There are Chinese nationals that are mining that site. Three of them came in from China via Ethiopia Airways via Abuja.

“Commissioner for Health in a swift reaction, sent a health team to go and isolate and investigate them. The investigation is supposed to take 14 days. We will now know after 14 days whether they did contract the virus or not,” Manjang said.

“We are being proactive as a government to make sure the situation is put under control.

“And as I talk to you, the Jos University Teaching Hospital and Plateau Specialist Hospital have isolated wards, rooms that are going to be kept for the purpose and these are what we used in those days during the Ebola outbreak. This is so should the issue of that nature arise which we don’t pray for, we will be on top of the situation,” he said.