Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has confirmed a fresh case of coronavirus in the state.
The governor who made the confirmation in a special broadcast Tuesday afternoon said the second case is a health worker.
The governor said, “Fellow Citizens, according to the NCDC latest update, as at today, the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nigeria is 1337; total discharged is 255; while total death is 40. In Adamawa State, up till yesterday, the total case confirmed was 1; total case discharged was 0, and total death is 0.
“Just when we thought we are doing enough to flatten the curve with the tremendous progress our index case is making toward complete recovery, I received, yet again, another devastating update that out of the eight samples we had pending at the NCDC Referral Lab in Abuja, one turned out positive, 6 are negative and 1 still pending.
“With this, I regret to announce that we now have 2 COVID-19 Confirmed Cases in Adamawa State.
“What is striking about this case is the fact that it is not linked to the index case. Last week, we sent 8 samples to Abuja. 5 were direct contacts of the index case as traced; while 3 were new suspicious cases who were showing symptoms.
“Having an 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 duties 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 the 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.”
He called for more caution by way of stricter adherence to safety regulations and obedience to lockdown restrictions.
He assured the people that his government would continue to be its best in addressing the situation and urged them to hope for the best and not to despair.