Benue State First Lady, Mrs Eunice Ortom, her son and some domestic staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease.
Governor Samuel Ortom’s wife announced this in a statement she personally signed in Makurdi on Saturday.
According to her, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) notified her of the development through her test result that returned positive on Friday evening.
Ortom further disclosed that she, her son and the domestic staff have all gone on safe isolation as directed by NCDC.
She appealed to all those who came in contact with her in the last two weeks to go for the test.
“A few moments ago, I received my result from the tests earlier carried out on me by NCDC personnel on routine screening at Government House, Makurdi and the test returned that I and my son and some staff are COVID-19 positive.
“We have, from this moment, gone into isolation as required by the protocols and would immediately begin the treatment as advised by medical experts.
“While I have taken the responsibility to personally call everyone I can recall having had recent contact with to go for testing, I advise anyone, who has had close contact with me in the last two weeks and the general public to go for screening and testing.
“I wish to reiterate that being COVID-19 positive is not a death sentence as evident by the many recoveries recorded so far.
“There is no need to panic, but we should continue to be responsible in our actions so as to keep others safe,’’ Mrs Ortom said.
She urged the public to take preventive measures so as to be protected and be safe by observing the primary protocols of wearing face masks, constant hand washing, maintaining social distancing and staying indoors if not necessary to go out.
Governor Ortom had earlier appealed to all his appointees to go for the COVID-19 test.
NCDC daily update has indicated that Benue has 32 new cases bringing the total in the state to 97 positive cases.
From the United States (U.S.), nine Nigerians have missed the second evacuation flight for running foul of Federal Government’s COVID-19 guidelines.
Among them is a family of five, according to Mr Benaoyagha Okoyen, the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, who oversaw the evacuation activities.
Okoyen said at the airport that they were not allowed to check in after five of them failed to present a negative coronavirus test result.
The negative COVID-19 test result is one of the requirements for evacuation under the Revised Quarantine Protocol of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
Okoyen said although the remaining four presented their results, they had to be dropped because they were on a family ticket with one of the defaulters.
He said one of the unidentified defaulters did not take the test at all in spite of being informed well ahead of time.
Meanwhile, 322 evacuees made the fully booked Ethiopian Airlines’ flight, which departed the Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, on Friday night.
They are expected to arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Saturday afternoon.
The first set of 160 stranded Nigerians were brought home from the U.S. on May 10.
This brings to 487 the current total number of citizens evacuated from the U.S. through the special flights arranged by the Federal Government.
No fewer than 700 stranded citizens registered with the Nigerian missions in the U.S. for evacuation, according to Okoyen, meaning more flights are coming.
In fact, the Consul General said the next one, also fully booked, had been slated for July 17 with the possibility of another.
Okoyen said that the nine persons that missed Friday’s flight would be placed on the waiting list for subsequent ones.
He appealed to intending evacuees to abide by the rules to avoid a repeat of Friday’s incident.
“We had to turn them back because this is a regulation, and I am using this opportunity to advise those in subsequent flights to obey the rules,” he said.
The Consul General commended the evacuees for their orderly conduct, while also thanking President Muhammadu Buhari for the opportunity.
Some of the evacuees, who were visibly excited to return home, also thanked the Federal Government for arranging the flight.
Also in the U.S., one of President Donald Trump’s top campaign fundraisers – and the girlfriend of his son Donald Trump Jr. – tested positive for coronavirus on Friday in South Dakota hours before Trump gave a speech at Mount Rushmore.
“After testing positive, Kimberly was immediately isolated to limit any exposure,” said Sergio Gor, chief of staff to the Trump Victory Finance Committee, which Guilfoyle chairs.
“She’s doing well, and will be retested to ensure the diagnosis is correct since she’s asymptomatic, but as a precaution will cancel all upcoming events.
“Donald Trump Jr was tested negative, but as a precaution is also self isolating and is canceling all public events,” Gor added in a statement.
Guilfoyle, 51, is a former Fox News personality and the ex-wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
She had been expected to attend Trump’s speech Friday night.
In Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has vowed to start charging face mask defaulters to court from next week, as the period of grace was over.
Sanwo-Olu said this while briefing newsmen on the update of the COVID-19 management in the state on Friday.
Sanwo-Olu said that at this phase in the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic, taking personal responsibility was now more important than ever.
He said that such personal responsibility was not only for self-protection but also for protecting other people, including loved ones.
According to him, mask usage is mandatory in public places as a strategy to curb the spread of the virus.
”We are asking offices, business and commercial premises to refuse entry to any persons not wearing masks in line with the Presidential Task Force directive on ”No mask, no entry”.
”No mask, no service enforcement agencies will from this week charge defaulters to court, as the period of grace is now over.
”Dear Lagosians, please continue to wash your hands regularly. As much as possible, maintain social distancing, especially in public places.
”On our part as a government, we will continue to do everything possible to protect and uphold the health and wellbeing of the people of the state,” the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu further said that the state government was commited to scaling up testing and isolation capacity and enforcing the guidelines issued.
”With regards to enforcement, we are increasing our focus and efforts in this area. As you all know, guidelines and directives are effective only to the extent to which they are complied with by the citizenry.
”The best laws and guidelines are of no use if they are disregarded by the people for whom they have been issued.
”Lagos State belongs to all of us. We must join hands to ensure that we defeat this virus,” he said.
The governor noted that the state’s COVID-19 hotline remained 08000CORONA.
He added that the hotline was available round the clock for people to make reports, seek testing and for infected persons to gain access to counselling and psychological support during the period of isolation and treatment.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 454 fresh cases of Coronavirus in the country.
The information is on the centre’s official Twitter page on Friday night.
With the latest cases, Nigeria’s total infections now stands at 27,564.
The health agency said that no new state reported a case in the last 24 hours.
According to it, till date, 27,564 cases have been confirmed, 11,069 cases have been discharged and 628 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The NCDC said that the 454 new cases were reported from 19 states, namely: Lagos (87), Edo (63), FCT (60), Ondo (41), Benue (32), Abia (31), Ogun (29), Oyo (19), Kaduna (17), Delta (16), Enugu (15), Borno (14), Plateau (9), Nasarawa (8), Kano (5), Bauchi (4), Gombe (2), Katsina (1), Kogi (1).
Meanwhile, the health agency said that, at least, one out of every 10 persons over 50 years old who had COVID-19 died from it in the country.
The NCDC urged Nigerians to take responsibility to protect themselves , their loved ones and the elderly around them and in the society “because COVID -19 is real”.
NCDC announced that it also served as co-lead of Africa Center for Disease Control’s COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Working Group.
It explained that “our responsibility is to work with Africa CDC to train frontline health workers across Africa and provide guidance based on evidence to protect them from COVID-19 infection.
“With support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and West Africa Healh Organisation (WAHO), the Africa CDC IPC Working Group trained over 3,000 healthcare workers in four months on public health safety measures
“We’ve developed guidance on proper use of face masks, Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and environmental decontamination.”
It emphasised that health workers were critical to the COVID-19 response.
The NCDC also stated that the team recognised the work done in often difficult circumstances, with concurrent outbreaks happening in some African countries.
It added that the agency was committed to working with the Africa CDC to empower health workers and prioritise their safety.
