A 16-year-old female COVID-19 patient is sitting her senior secondary school certificate examination at the Kwara State COVID-19/Infectious Disease Centre in Ilorin, the state capital, an official said on Wednesday.

The patient – whose name and school were withheld to avoid stigma – wrote her Agricultural Science paper on Wednesday under close supervision by an official of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

Team Lead/Manager Case Management Team, Kwara COVID-19/Infectious Diseases Centre, Dr Kudirat Oladeji-Lambe, told reporters that the candidate is asymptomatic, stable, and fit to write the exams.

“The person in question is one of the final year Senior Secondary School students that have enrolled for the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination and she's right here writing her exam. She is asymptomatic, which means she does not show any symptoms, and she's stable. She is just here to observe her two weeks isolation process,” Dr Oladiji-Lambe said.

“We have certified that she's both mentally and physically fit to write her exams. She was a close contact with a close relative of her that tested positive. It was through contact tracing that she happened to be tested positive.

“The candidate was admitted yesterday (Tuesday). She missed a paper yesterday and we informed the authorities because as child advocates, once she had enrolled for WAEC, the government felt she has the right to write her papers. That’s why the state government thought it wise to arrange for her in order not to miss other papers.

“The state government deemed it fit to arrange for her to have safe place for her to write the exam without fear of stigmatisation or risk to other students.”

Kwara currently has a total of 906 confirmed cases of COVID-19, out of which 186 are active while 687 have been managed and discharged. 23 persons have died of the pandemic in the state.

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