It has been declared that as at Thursday, April 23rd, Three more people have been confirmed to be positive for COVID-19 in Bauchi State.
The confirmation of the new cases includes another female staff member of the State office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Bauchi and two other people whose identity have not been disclosed.
With these confirmed new cases, Bauchi State now has a total number of six active cases including the former three who has been undergoing treatment at the isolation centre in General Hospital, Bayara.
The three new cases were contained in the Situation Room Release Update from the COVID-19 Emergency Operation Center in the Bauchi State Ministry of Health obtained by our Correspondent on Friday.
While speaking in a telephone conversation, the Information Officer, Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BASPHCDA), Ibrahim Sani, confirmed the new cases saying that the result was received from the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) Abuja on Thursday night.
He said: “It is true that Bauchi has three new confirmed cases. The Executive Chairman of the Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Rilwan Mohammed, received the result from the NCDC last night. As you know, so far, five patients have recovered and have been discharged. With this new development, there are now six active cases in the state, with no death.”
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Asked if any of the new cases is a contact of the WHO staff, he answered in the affirmative saying, “Yes, one of the positive cases is a staff of the WHO. He is a contact of the first case. Then there is a woman and another man who both returned to the state from Lagos.”
The IO added that “The woman is from Giade Local Government Area of the state while the other person is a resident of Bauchi metropolis” saying that that two other suspected cases that were recorded in the state had been isolated in one of the Isolation Centers.
He said: “Last night we were called by a family at Prison Quarters here in Bauchi that one of their loved ones just returned from Lagos yesterday (Thursday) and was exhibiting some symptoms. So, the surveillance team (of the Task Force on COVID-19 and Lassa Fever in the state) rushed there with an ambulance and picked him to the Bayara isolation centre.”
He added that “The second suspected case was at Nasarawa area of the state he too just returned from a journey but I don’t know if he came back from Lagos or if it is from a different place. I must tell you that these two cases are yet to be confirmed but they have been isolated and we are waiting for confirmation to know their status.”
It will be recalled that Bauchi State initially had six initial positive cases of the COVID-19 infection out of which three have been successfully treated and discharged.