Disturbing reports reaching us from Akure, the Ondo State capital has it that a Coronavirus (COVID-19) patient who fled from Imo State where she was diagnosed of the disease was on Saturday evening arrested at the popular Oja-Oba market in Akure.
The report however did not state how the patient was allowed to leave the hospital where she was found to be COVID-19 positive in Imo State. Going by the guidelines and protocols as provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), it was wrong for the hospital that diagnosed her to have allowed her leave the environment having dictated she was positive.
The patient, a female was said to be a trader who sells second-hand clothes popularly known as ‘okrika’ in Oja-Oba market where it was gathered that she travelled down to Akure, the Ondo State capital without submitting herself for treatment.
The Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro, who confirmed the story explained that the escape of the patient prompted both the Imo and Ondo Governments to mount surveillance for her. The tracking eventually paid off when she was traced to Oja-Oba where she was eventually picked up.
Dr. Adegbenro disclosed that contact tracing of the patient’s family, friends, and neighbours had begun and urged all who had transacted business with the woman to report for diagnosis. With the patient already at the state Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Igbatoro road, Akure, the Health Commissioner further confirmed that as at the weekend of Saturday June 6, 2020, the number of cases of COVID-19 in the state has risen to 41.
