The Benue State Action Committee on COVID-19, has announced that 27 samples which were collected and dispatched for laboratory tests, so far, all returned negative, with the exception of the Index Case.
The Committee said the 25 persons who had contacts with the index case were supervised in self-isolation and were all discharged by April 12, 2020 with the exception of one who ran away and was later brought into Self-Isolation.
Secretary of the committee and Commissioner for Health & Human Services, Mr. Sunday Ongbabo said the Committee has remained astute at work round the clock to keep the state under surveillance for the possible detection of any case of the virus, including keeping open channels of communication with all segments of society.
He said through the support of the Governor, Samuel Ortom, the Committee has been equipped and facilitated to carry out surveillance, tracking as well as collection of samples for tests, both in the urban and rural communities of the state.
“So far we have responded promptly to distress calls in addition to intelligence from our surveillance teams and have collected a total of 27 samples which we dispatched for laboratory tests, with all of the results so far returned negative, with the exception of the Index Case.
Mr. Ongbabo giving a breakdown of their activities across the state so far said in Ushongo LGA, the committee had three outings collecting two samples for tests, with one of the results returned negative, while one is awaited result; two of the suspects are so far in Isolation and quarantine.
He said in Gboko LGA, they had three outings collecting three samples for tests, with two of the results returned negative, while one suspect is awaiting result and in Isolation.
“In Gwer West LGA, we had one outing collecting one sample for test with the result returned negative, while In Makurdi LGA, we had 13 outings collecting 13 samples for tests with all of the results returned negative.
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“At the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp at Agaan, Makurdi, we had one outing, collecting one sample for test, with the result returned negative. The Person, however died from other ailment while in Konshisha LGA, we had one outing collecting one sample for test, with the result being awaited.
“In Okpokwu LGA, we had one encounter on the case of a suspect who arrived there from Ghana in December, 2019. He was earlier diagnosed as diabetic and suffered complications. While being conveyed to Abuja for medical attention he died in transit and our inquiries discovered his remains were deposited at Gwagwa.
“Following an interest from us to conduct an autopsy on his remains to determine his COVID-19 status, NCDC informed us that his corpse had stayed for more than 6 hours and results from an autopsy on it relative to COVID-19 will not be reliable. More importantly however, the case did not meet with case definition for COVID-19.”
He explained that in the course of follow up, some were classified as persons of Interest, being persons who came into the state from Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and Malaysia saying results from tests on them all have been negative with the exception of the Index Case.
He urged Benue people to continue to observe the basic safety measures of personal hygiene such as frequent and regular washing of hands with soap and running water, use of hand-sanitiser, maintaining social distancing as well as observe the rules and regulations lockdown imposed on the state by Government.
