COVID-19: Edo Declares Fleeing Patient Wanted, Extends Curfew

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has declared one Mrs. Amaka Okoro wanted for allegedly absconding and refusing treatment after testing positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Obaseki, who spoke during a media briefing in Benin to update the state on the progress made so far to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the state, said that the runaway woman is a nursing mother that coughs incessantly, one of the symptoms of the disease.
The governor announced that over 20,000 persons have been screened so far in the state for the Covid-19 virus, 297 samples taken while 37 tested positive for the disease.
Obaseki said: “She lives at 2 Atoe Idubor Str, off 2nd Ugbor, Benin City. She has been unreachable since her results returned positive.”
He jacked up the 6 pm to 7 am dusk-to-dawn curfew to contain the spread of COVID-19 to 8 pm to 6 am for the next 14 days.
Obaseki remarked that since his last public update about 10 days ago, tremendous progress in the area of, screening, testing, and improved awareness of the citizens about the virus have been made.
“Working closely with public and private hospitals, we have screened about 20,000 people and tested 297 citizens
“This increased screening and testing is the reason for the increased number of cases in the state.
“We are aggressively pushing to screen our minimum target of about 500,000 people and test about one percent of them which is about 5,000 in the next few weeks.
“As we increase testing, we are likely to see an astronomic rise in the number of cases in the state.
“Of 20,000 people we have screened and the 297 samples taken, we have recorded 37 confirmed cases as of today, discharged eight and lost three people.
“It is worthy of note that late testing was a strong factor leading to fatality. That is why I am advising that everybody go out for screening at the numerous screening centers in the state,” he said.