COVID-19: Abia confirms 2 fresh cases

The Abia Government on Monday disclosed that the state has two confirmed index cases of COVID-19 after the test results of the patients returned positive.Chief John Okiyi-Kalu, the state Commissioner for Information, made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia.“We have received the report of two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Abia State this evening from NCDC. Both patients are advanced in age, but currently stable at an isolation centre in our state.“We have deployed our ventilators to the isolation centre in readiness for their use; if eventually required to nurse them back to good health.“Our well trained medical personnel are offering all necessary support and we hope and pray the patients survive this ailment,” Okiyi-Kalu said.He said that the patients were aged and the possibility of a community transmission was very high, as the places of residence of the cases were ”Ukwa and Umuahia North areas of the state “.Okiyi-Kalu urged persons who had contact with the patients to call the state medical emergency phone numbers for prompt medical attention.According to him, the state government had commenced contact tracing in earnest and Abia Rapid Response Team had swung into action to bring in those who had contact with the two index cases.In a related development, the commissioner said that the test result of  ‘Prosper Vincent’, a suspected case that was declared wanted by Abia government, returned negative and he would be released from isolation.He called on the people of Abia to be calm and continue to observe all the guidelines issued by NCDC and the state Inter-Ministerial committee on COVID-19.Okiyi-Kalu said that the guidelines include: “Staying at home, unless there is a compelling need to go out to either buy drugs or food. Do so with your face mask on.“Wash your hands regularly with soap under running water for at least 20 seconds or use original hand sanitisers to clean them.“Observe social distancing and also avoid crowds. Do not open any market to trade and, please, stop using public transport until further notice.”