Kaduna records first COVID-19 fatality

Kaduna has announced its first Covid-19 casualty; a male retired civil servant who visited a public and private hospital in the state after his returned from Kano recently.   The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Amina Mohammed-Baloni said the victim had underlying medical conditions, and had concealed his recent travel to Kano when he visited the […]

Kaduna has announced its first Covid-19 casualty; a male retired civil servant who visited a public and private hospital in the state after his returned from Kano recently.  

The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Amina Mohammed-Baloni said the victim had underlying medical conditions, and had concealed his recent travel to Kano when he visited the hospitals.

“He was eventually admitted at the isolation center with respiratory distress. He died before his positive test result was released. He is the first Covid-19 fatality in Kaduna State. His family has been informed of his demise and he has since been buried according to the burial protocol of the NCDC,” she said.

Dr. Baloni said the state health officials have begun decontaminating the two hospitals that the deceased visited while staff who attended to him have been isolated, as have his family members.

The commissioner said the number of active Covid-19 cases in the state rose to 28 as at Thursday as the state awaits more results from the 350 tests it has conducted.

“Testing of 167 Almajirai from Kano has now been completed, and the number of positive cases from this group may rise beyond the 21 recorded before we completed testing this category of persons.

“The three patients that increased the number from 25 include two males and the first female Covid-19 case in the state. The female patient is a health worker who is not involved in the treatment of Covid-19 cases. One of the two males was a retired civil servant male with underlying medical conditions, who concealed his recent travel to Kano when he visited a public hospital and a private hospital,” she said.

She appealed to citizens who suspect that they have been exposed to Covid-19 to avoid infecting others and urged them to follow the safe protocol of isolating themselves at home while contacting health officials.

“Concealing relevant information and engaging in conduct that exposes others to the risk of infection constitutes a danger to the community and is regarded as wilful and reckless endangerment of the well-being and lives of other citizens. Such conduct contravenes the provisions of the Quarantine Orders and could lead to prosecution,” she said.