Two COVID-19 patients flee after testing positive in Borno

The Borno High Powered Committee on coronavirus has called on residents of Maiduguri to be at alert as two positive patients are on the run.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Salisu Kwaya-Bura, made this known on Sunday in Maiduguri while giving an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

He said that a 24-year-old male and a 42-year-old female had gone into hiding to avoid being taken to an isolation centre.

Kwaya-Bura, who is the Secretary of the State High Powered Taskforce on Covid-19, said surveillance teams have been deployed to locate and return them to the isolation centre.

“The male patient at first responded to a phone call from the team after his sample was collected but switched off his phone when he learnt he tested positive.

“When samples of patients with contacts to index cases are collected, they are normally advised to go on self-isolation.

“They give their contacts so they can be reached when the results are out. This is the standard medical procedure.

“You can’t detain someone with suspected contact. We do not have the lawful powers to do that. Other patients were also allowed to leave but they came into isolation centres and we have 19 of them in two isolation centres.

“However, the young man in question chose to go into hiding,” Kwaya-Bura said.

Kwaya-bura called on anyone who tested positive for the coronavirus not to see it as a death sentence.

“The 16 COVID-19 cases recorded in Borno emanated from community transmission while 14 others were connected to the index case,” he said.