Contact Tracing Begins as Okowa Confirms Index Case in Delta

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, on Wednesday announced that the state has recorded the index incident of the COVID-19, adding that the necessary search for persons who had contact with the unnamed victim has already commenced.

Okowa, in the announcement broadcast on local radio and television on Wednesday, said the incident was officially certified on April 7, 2020, which coincided with the seventh day of the two-week lockdown order slammed on the state by the governor.

The patient, who tested positive for the coronavirus disease "has already been moved into one of our four management centres," the governor stated while calling for maximum cooperation with health workers and government officials at various levels.

While calling for prayer and necessary action from all citizens and residents in the state, Okowa warned of stiff penalty for anyone caught flouting the stay-at-home order as well as the physical and social distancing directives, which are global standards meant to check the spread of the COVID-19 in Delta State and Nigeria at large.

According to Okowa, "Delta State had recorded its first incident case of the COVID-19 on April 7, 2020. That case has already been moved into one of our four management centres and we have already begun the process of contacts tracing."

He assured the state that the government had sufficiently prepared to tackle the pandemic in the state by providing well-equipped facilities with medical and health workers adequately trained to manage any incident case of the disease.

"Our health staff members have received the best training, and are ready to go," the governor said, urging the people to support, encourage and pray for the health workers who constitute the first line of charge against the coronavirus disease currently ravaging all the countries of the world, including Nigeria.

On the need to continue to comply with the stay-at-home order, he warned that the 14-day lockdown order, which entered the eighth day yesterday, was backed by law and in the best interest of the people of the state.

“The law would also take its course against any individual or group that flouts the rules and regulations of the lockdown.

"COVID-19 is real and I will want to appreciate it if all Deltans would realise that no one is immune against viral infection,” the governor warned.

He appealed to private hospital and clinics to immediately report any case of suspected coronavirus through the dedicated phone numbers or the state commissioner of health, the different local government chairmen and other relevant officials responsible for dealing with the health emergency in the state.

Meanwhile, Okowa has assured the people that the distribution of various items of food to the very poor and most vulnerable people across the state would commence in a few days as more donations continued to be received into the Delta State Food Bank opened last Monday at Ibusa in Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.