COVID-19: Delta awaits test results of index case in Warri

The result of a coronavirus test carried out on a coughing patient in Warri is being awaited, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Central Hospital, Warri, Dr Paul Okubor, has said.

Okubor made this known on Sunday after the oil-rich city was awashed with the rumour that a suspected case has been recorded in. The information heightened tension among the people in the city.

Nigerian Tribune reports that a trending video on the internet, which heightened the tension, showed an ambulance belonging to Warri Central Hospital evacuating a sick patient from a street in Warri for medical attention.

In the video, a yet-to-be-identified person was heard running a commentary that a coronavirus patient was being evacuated from his street.

But reacting to the video, Dr. Okubor, disclosed that the ambulance actually evacuated a sick patient from the street when he got a report that the patient was coughing.

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He dismissed the case as too early to conclude that it’s a coronavirus case.

He added that the coronavirus surveillance team was just being proactive so that the virus would not spread to others.

“Yes, we picked somebody up from that axis in Warri. That ambulance is from the Central Hospital Warri.

“But it’s not right to say the person had coronavirus yet. She is coughing and she has some symptoms and just to stay on the safer side, we decided to pick her so that they can do the test for her.

“So it is only when the test is out that anybody can say what she has. Or it might just be normal respiratory tract infection or anything.

“We are just trying to be very cautious so that in case it is, it doesn’t spread,” he was quoted to have said.