By Monsuru Olowoopejo
The Kwara State Government has placed atleast 75 people on watch list after having contact with two Nigerian-United Kingdom (UK) returnees who have been declared positive of coronavirus in the state.
According to government, the first case was the wife of a man who recently returned from UK, and was said to have died of the virus at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital in Ilorin.
Confirming the number, the State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq, in a statement on Tuesday, disclosed that the second case was a diabetic patient who also had a travel history to the UK.
Abdulrasaq added: “The second case came into the country on March 18 and has since gone into self-isolation with his wife. Following reasonable suspicion, sample was taken from him and he has now been confirmed positive.
After this, the governor said: “Our job is cut out for us and we are definitely not dropping the ball. Contact tracing by the Rapid Response Team of the medical advisory committee has so far netted 75 persons who have had contacts with the cases and the suspected case at UITH”.
He explained that with this action, the state could easily control spread of the disease in the state to those that have already contracted the disease from the index cases.
According to him, 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”.
