Abia State's Governor Okezie Ikpeazu tests positive for coronavirus and goes into isolation for 14 days

GOVERNOR Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has tested positive for coronavirus and has subsequently gone into isolation where he will remain quarantined for 14 days on line with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines.

Nigeria currently has 12,486 coronavirus cases, of which there have been 354 fatalities, with Lagos State accounting for about half of all infections. Abia State has only had 83 infections and has not suffered any fatalities as the southeast geo-political zone in which it is located has by and large been free of the virus, suffering only two deaths across the five states.

John Kalu, the Abia State information commissioner, said the governor has since gone into isolation as required by the NCDC. He added that the governor has directed his deputy, Ude Chukwu, to act on his behalf pending his recovery and the resumption of duties.

Mr Kalu said: “Recall that on Saturday, 30th May, 2020, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu volunteered his sample for Covid-19 testing and subsequently directed members of the state executive council and those of the inter-ministerial committee on Covid-19 to submit themselves for the same test. On Tuesday, 2nd June, 2020, the result of Governor Ikpeazu’s test returned negative.

“On Thursday, 4th June, 2020, the governor submitted another sample at the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control laboratory for confirmation and the result returned positive. As a result, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has gone into isolation, as required by relevant NCDC protocols and he is being managed by a competent team of medical practitioners with a view to nursing him back to good health."