Billy Graham Abel Yola
Adamawa Governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has made the use of face mask compulsory in public as the state records another case.
He said the second case, being a medical practitioner, had thrown a new challenge into the contact tracing management of the disease in the state.
Fintiri made the remarks during a statewide broadcast in Yola, Adamawa State.
With the new case, the state has so far recorded a total of two confirmed cases.
The governor noted that the new case which is not connected to the index case presents another difficult challenge in the management of the disease as fear of community infection heightened.
“What is striking about this case is the fact that it is not linked to the index case. Last week, we sent eight samples to Abuja, five were direct contacts of the index case as traced while three were new suspicious cases. Having additional case in the state is truly worrisome. More disturbing is the fact that the victim is a medical doctor in one of our hospitals in Mubi, who must have had contact with many people in the course of discharging his duty lawfully.
“This indeed places on our shoulder a Herculean task of contact tracing which is not only tedious but strenuous.
“While the contact tracing is no doubt daunting, more scaring is the fact that we may be sliding into the most dangerous phase of the pandemic, which is community transmission of the virus. It is on note that our Index Case is a returnee from Kano.
and therefore we are certain of how the disease was couriered into the state.
“But when the case is a doctor, resident in a public hospital with access to colleagues and countless patients, the level of Community Infection can best be imagined.”
The ministry of health had earlier confirmed the second case, 32-year-old man, in its situation report.