A health surveillance and investigation team have found the 24-year-old man who went into hiding after testing positive for COVID-19.
Dr Salisu Kwaya-Bura, the Commissioner for Health in Borno, made this known on Monday.
The commissioner, who is also the Secretary of the Borno State High-Powered Team on COVID-19, said that the patient was found in a critical state in his family house in Gwange Area of Maiduguri.
“The patient was moved on a stretcher and is now on a ventilator in an isolation centre in Maiduguri.
“Health workers are doing everything humanly possible to revive the patient.
“Also, a contact tracing and surveillance team has been deployed to identify persons who may have had direct and indirect contacts with him for risks assessment, isolation advice, and collection of samples for tests,’’ the commissioner said.
He also disclosed that the 42-year-old woman, who also tested positive at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), is still at large.
“This is a call on her, to as a matter of urgency, report to the hospital even as a combination of health surveillance experts and security officials are making all efforts to trace her.“The chances of recovery from COVID-19 is higher at the isolation centres,” he said. He called on citizens who test positive to the COVID-19 not to stay away from isolation centres but to come forward in order to receive help. He also called on members of the public to show empathy and compassion, rather than stigmatize anyone who tested positive.
The commissioner pointed out that stigmatization only keeps patients away from isolation centres and made them spread the virus to even those who stigmatize them.
