Bayelsa shut down after confirming COVID-19 index case

Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has declared a total lockdown in the state, starting from midnight of Monday, April 27 after the index case of coronavirus (COVID-19) was recorded.

The governor said only essential workers, pharmaceuticals and foodstuff sellers, are exempted from the restriction of movement in the state.

The index case who is a 47-year-old woman presented herself at the Bayelsa Specialist hospital in Yenagoa with a history of poor appetite, fever, headache, cough, chest pain, for almost a week. She also has a history of hypertension and diabetes, though she said she had no recent travelling history.

In an address to the state, Governor Diri added that she is in a stable condition and has been evacuated to the Isolation center at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital Okolobiri and contact tracing, has begun.

The governor noted that samples from the doctors, nurses, and all those who visited the facility over the week, and came in contact with her, during her admission, would be traced and isolated to curb the spread of the virus.

He said although the woman refused the result of the test conducted, Bayelsa State Government won’t reject the test results as it was scientifically done, and she presented herself for testing.