Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Former governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido may have been advised to proceed on self isolation for period of 14 days by the officials of Kano State Task Force on COVID-19.
It was understood that the former Jigawa State Governor, alongside his driver and his orderly, had Thursday presented their blood samples for screening to the officials of the state task force on COVID-19.
The former governor, it was gathered, was among the sympathizers that attended the funeral ceremony of the late mother of a leading political figure at Koki town in the state capital.
The said burial ceremony, which took place last Thursday, was equally attended by Kano’s index case, said a source who added that all the persons, who had attended the burial were presently being traced and invited for screening.
The former governor was notified of the proposed screening through a text message he received at 12.56 pm on Thursday ( 13 – 04 – 2020).
The message, which was signed by Dr Imam Wada Bello, Director of Public Health, Kano State Ministry of Health read that: “ Your Excellency sir, as part of our COVID-19 contact tracing, your name was mentioned among the dignitaries that attended the funeral at Koki.”
Bello, who is also the secretary of the state task force on COVID-19 in the state added that, “We would like to have your kind permission for our RRT to evaluate your risk and possibly take your sample.”
Speaking on his Facebook timeline, Alhaji Sule Lamido confirmed that he had gone through the processes adding that, “it was efficiency at its best.”
Meanwhile, officials of the state task force on COVID -19 have been reaching out to scores of persons believed to have had contact with the index case in the state before he was isolated.
The persons include his family members, doctors, nurses and technicians that attended to the index case at the hospital and at the diagnostic centre he visited as well as those he met at the dinner party and at the wedding ceremony that he attended, among others.
A source told our correspondent that it was difficult to give the exact list of those already traced as the exercise was still ongoing while appealing to anybody who may have had contact with the index case to take responsibility and make himself self available to the task force.