Osun State has discharged one of its early cases and 109 foreign returnees from the United Kingdom (UK) and Cote d’Ivoire after they tested negative.
Governor Gboyega Oyetola, during a news conference yesterday at the state secretariat in Abere, said: “One of the early cases has been discharged after the patient tested negative twice, in line with directives from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
“The 109, whose results came back negative, have also been released to join their families. 11 to Oyo, two to Lagos, One to Ogun, three each to Edo and Abia, four to Delta and one to Imo, while 85 will remain here in Osun.
“They have been advised to observe all the prescribed safety and preventive measures and to call our helplines if they start to feel unwell.”
Governor Oyetola also said the intercepting the returnees from Ivory Coast and isolating them was for the greater good of other states and the country at large.
The government, in the previous week, received about 127 returnees from Ivory Coast, who came into the country through Ogun State. They were escorted by security officials to Osun, and immediately quarantined at the isolation centre in Ejigbo.
Oyetola added: “It was discovered that some of these returnees are indigenes and residents of other states like Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Imo, Edo, Delta and Abia among others.
“The effect of our intervention convinced us that we took the right decision because if the returnees had been released, tracing them and their contacts would have been difficult, and the implications catastrophic.
“Of the 127 isolated and tested returnees, 17 tested positive for the virus while 110 returned negative. Of the 17, we also have persons from other states.
“All the returnees who tested positive are intact at our facility undergoing proper treatment at our care centre and are all stable. We hope they will soon recover safely and rejoin their families.”
Oyetola also called on the Federal Government to assist the state in its effort to contain a further spread of Coronavirus.
“Considering our peculiar circumstance, the Federal Government should assist our efforts to contain the virus. Our call is predicated on the fact that some of the samples that were tested indicated high level of viral loads, suggesting a strong capability to infect massively if necessary measures are not taken,” he added.
