By TIMOTHY OLANREWAJU, Maiduguri

The Borno State Government says that it has started contact tracing of 97 persons who may have met a medical personnel who died over the weekend from COVID-19.

The state’s Deputy Governor and Chairman of the High Power Committee on COVID-19, Umar Kadafur, at a press conference in Maiduguri on Monday said the contact tracing followed the death of a 56-year-old man at a public hospital in Maiduguri.

“The Borno State High-Powered Committee on the prevention and control of COVID-19 disease hereby announce to the general public that one case of COVID-19 disease was confirmed in Maiduguri on Sunday 19th April 2020,” Kadafur said.

He disclosed that the man, working with an international humanitarian organisation, was brought from Pulka, a Borno Central town, but died as a result of COVID-19 complications.

He said a sample was taken from the body of the deceased for testing at the laboratory, adding that confirmation was given by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Sunday.

The deputy governor explained that the committee has started tracing contacts of 34 persons at the deceased’s place of work in Pulka and in 64 Maiduguri, where he lived, as well as the hospital where he was admitted.

“He has been buried in accordance with the NCDC protocol and standard,” the deputy governor said.

He also disclosed that an epidemiological team has been deployed to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp for testing of displaced persons.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, in a statement on Monday, said he was saddened by the death of the health worker, a nurse.

“I am very saddened to confirm the death of a health worker on 18 April who had contracted the new coronavirus disease COVID-19,” Kallon said.

He said aid organisations led by the World Health Organisation (WHO), are working closely with the NCDC Borno State Government, the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, “to trace anyone the late nurse may have been in contact with” in the state. The humanitarian community in Nigeria, he said, will also ensure the protection of IDPs against COVID-19. (Daily Sun)

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