We searched for Anambra’s COVID-19 index case for over 6 hours – Commissioner

Tuesday, April 14, 2020 12:03 pm

Coronavirus

It took a search lasting over six hours before the index case of COVID-19 in Anambra was apprehended and taken to isolation centre, the State Commissioner of Health, Dr. Vincent Okpala, has revealed.

According to the Commissioner, the index case had escaped from the hospital he was being treated while the result of his test for Covid-19 was being expected from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC.

According to the Commissioner, the search which began at 8:00pm when the result came in from the NCDC ended at 3:00am.

The Commissioner who spoke to journalists in Awka on Tuesday said, “He left the hospital when he should not have left. Usually, while waiting for patient’s result, we keep them in check, but this man eloped even before the result was out, and when I called the doctor managing him, and he told me the man was not in the hospital, we had to go looking for him.

“We searched for him and got him. Presently, the index case is being treated at an isolation centre, and he is receiving the best of treatment ever.

He has every facility he needs and is also provided whatever he wants. “

The Commissioner also revealed that 29 persons who had contacts with the index case have been quarantined and are waiting to be tested. Those under quarantine, he said, include medical personnel at the hospital where the index case was previously treated, his relatives and business associates.

“Those traced are being closely monitored now, as I speak”, Dr. Okpala said.