No driver tested positive for COVID-19 in Niger state - Governor reacts

No driver tested positive for COVID-19 in Niger state - Governor reacts

- Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state has reacted to reports that a driver tested positive for coronavirus

- The Niger state governor on Thursday, April 2, denied the report, describing it as false information

- A report had earlier claimed that a driver who tested positive for COVID-19 escaped in Bida

The governor of Niger state, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, has dismissed reports that a driver tested positive for the global pandemic called coronavirus in the state.

The northern leader in a tweet via his Twitter account on Thursday, April 2, urged people to disregard a Whatsapp broadcast message going around that a driver tested positive.

Bello's reaction is coming after a viral report claimed a commercial driver in Niger had tested positive for COVID-19 and escaped from the isolation centre in Bida where he was being treated.

Meanwhile, a report by Vanguard claims that Dr. Mohammed Makunsidi, the Niger state commissioner for health and hospital services, on Wednesday, April 1, said that a patient had escaped in Bida.

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The commissioner went on to note that the Niger state COVID-19 task force and officials of the ministry are looking for the driver in Bida area of the state. He said: “We heard of the arrival of a driver that is said to have tested positive to Coronavirus who was being managed at an isolation centre. We heard he escaped into Bida, so we are after him now."

Legit.ng previously reported that the governor of Niger state picked holes in the current method the NCDC is using to determine those to be tested for coronavirus. Governor Bello said on Sunday, March 29, that the focus on a particular group of people to be those who are affected by coronavirus is wrong.

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He said Nigeria's efforts to contain the spread of the virus may not be fruitful if it continues to overlook the most vulnerable set of people to contact Covid-19 while placing focus on certain statuses and classes.

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“We are overlooking the most vulnerable ones and are setting our radar and concentrating on certain status or class be it political, business or religious," the Niger state governor said.

In a related development, five patients initially diagnosed with coronavirus in Lagos state were on Monday, March 30, discharged after weeks of tests and medical care. This brings the number of discharged patients all over the country to 8.

The discharged patients, according to The Nation, who were quarantined at an isolation centre in the state for weeks regained their health and are now in stable condition.

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Source: Legit.ng

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