Coronavirus: Borno government speaks on controversial death

The Borno State Government on Sunday April 19, reacted to the controversial death recorded at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital in Borno state.

It was reported that one Babangida Buba, a retired nurse passed on after displaying symptoms of COVID-19. The deceased who joined a humanitarian organisation after retirement, died at the hospital on Friday Aprl 17.

Borno State’s Deputy Governor Umar Kadafur who commented on the incident at a press briefing, said the cause of death has not been officially confirmed.

The Deputy Governor who heads the state’s committee on the control of coronavirus said;

“The blood sample (of the deceased) has been taken and the result has been communicated to the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) who are mandated to make a statement on that.

“But as a committee, we are working and reviewing things in the town so for now, I assure you that if there is anything from the outcome of the NCDC, we will make it public.”

On if the man showed symptoms of Coronavirus before his death, Kadafur said;

“I have to caution our press when it comes to COVID-19.

“You are supposed to run a test and there is a lot of processes involved. So if you are not a member of that team, you cannot preempt a result without official confirmation.

“What we are saying now is that we have a patient who had passed away and that the patient is tested but the result is sent to NCDC that they can send us an official confirmation.

“The committee has evaluated a lot of things, we have started putting our house together in the events of any outbreak.”

The Deputy Governor further stated that despite the total movement restriction placed on all entry points to the state, “there were no restrictions in the metropolis for now, if there is a need to do so, we will do that but for now, we only have the Interstate lockdown into the state.”

The NCDC in its announcement last night, confirmed that Borno state has a Coronavirus case. It is unclear if the confirmed case is the late health worker.