Borno Identifies 99 Contacts Of COVID-19 Index Case

The Borno State government has identified 99 people believed to have had contact with the index case of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state.

Deputy Governor Umar Kadafur disclosed this on Monday at a news conference in Maiduguri, the state capital.

The index case was a health worker with the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – Doctors Without Border –, an international organisation offering humanitarian service in the North East.

Until his death on Saturday last week, the patient worked in Pulka, a district in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State housing thousands of displaced persons.

Kadafur, who is also the Chairman of the Borno State High-Powered Committee on the Prevention and spread of COVID-19, told reporters that 99 people of interest have been traced.

He explained that 35 people had contact with the index case in Pulka where he was working before he developed symptoms while the remaining 64 were his contacts in Maiduguri who attended to him in a hospital or had contact with his remains.

“He (the patient) was a 56-year-old citizen of Borno who was brought in from Pulka with features of severe respiratory disease.

“He was managed in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) but unfortunately, he succumbed to the disease,” the deputy governor said.

He added, “Nasal swab specimen was collected from the body, which tested positive for corona virus disease at the COVID-19 reference laboratories in the UMTH and validated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).”

According to Kadafur, the government is tracing other contacts of the patients and putting necessary measures to prevent further spread of the disease.

He added that the MSF whom the patient worked for in Pulka has been directed to provide line list, profile and quarantine all his contacts and submit same to the committee for action.

The deputy governor noted that they have deployed a team on surveillance and case management to Pulka for further investigation and sample collection.