Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Fresh figures of confirmed cases of COVID-19 pandemic in Oyo State have revealed that just one organisation in Ibadan, iSON Xperiences, an outsourcing Indian firm handling customer care services for telecommunication companies in Nigeria and other countries, has the lion share (149) of a total of 240 cases of coronavirus in the state as of Sunday, May 24, 2020.
The confirmed cases in the state would have been 91 as of May 24th, but for the organisation that caused the spike in the number of confirmed cases within nine days, starting from May 16th to May 24th.
The last, it seems, has not been heard on the number of confirmed cases in the organisation, with two centres in Ibadan – one at Oba Adebimpe Road, Dugbe and the other one at Adamasingba.
In the update of May 24th given by Governor Seyi Makinde, the COVID-19 confirmation tests for seven suspected cases returned positive, with six coming from iSON Xperiences and one from Ibadan South West Local Government Area, upping the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 240.
The first 30 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the company were announced by the governor in the update of May 16th, though a total of 31 new cases were announced for the day, and by the following day, the number increased to 38 after the company recorded eight of the 11 new cases in the state. The same organisation also had all the 19 new cases announced in the update of May 18th.
By May 19th, the company recorded six of the six new cases, and 15 out of the 19 new cases announced for May 20th. The same organisation also recorded 27 of the 28 cases announced for May 21st and 11 of the 13 cases of May 22nd. The firm further recorded 27 of the 30 cases announced for May 23rd and six of the seven cases for May 24th, all totalling 149 cases from the company.
Governor Makinde, assessing the COVID-19 situation in the state, said: ‘The upside is that majority of the COVID-19 cases in Oyo State have relatively mild or no symptoms. This means that with the proper management of cases that we have put in place, they will recover without any complications.
‘The downside is that when people are asymptomatic, they can easily spread the virus unknowingly. This is why we must all play our roles by adhering to guidelines on frequent hand washing with soap and water, physical distancing and the use of face mask in public places.’
The update on COVID-19 posted on Twitter by the Oyo State Ministry of Health stated that of the 240 confirmed cases, the state has 178 active cases, 58 recoveries, four deaths as of May 24th. The post also disclosed that two cases were transferred into the state, while four cases were transferred out of the state.