Osun: Police Searching For Escaped COVID-19 Patient – Commissioner

The Osun State Commissioner for Information, Funke Egbemode, has said the police are on the trail of a Coronavirus patient that escaped from an isolation centre in the state.

Egbemode disclosed this in a phone interview with THE WHISTLER on Saturday.

The Commissioner, who refuted earlier reports that six patients had escaped from the isolation centre, said only one of the patients was missing.

“Only one person is unaccounted for,” Egbemode told our correspondent.

The state had confirmed six cases of Coronavirus after persons who recently returned from Côte d’Ivoire to Ejigbo local government area of state, tested positive for the virus.

The patients had been camped at an isolation centre at Gedu in the Ejigbo area of the state.

But Egbemode said contrary to reports, only one of the patients escaped, assuring that the escaped patient would be tracked down in the next one hour.

She said, “The policemen and other security agents are combing [everywhere] for the patient.

“You know it’s a community. It is a closed community and the state is on lockdown, so movement is also impossible

“Expected that in the next one hour or less we should be able to locate the person,” said the Commissioner.

Meanwhile, in a statement she issued earlier, Egbemode said, “a quick check showed that the name and number of the first person on the list of the purported missing patients, is indeed currently in our facility in Ejigbo.

“Recall that about a week ago, we received 127 returnees from Ivory Coast and we have kept them since then to avoid community transfer of the virus.

“This morning we embarked on a headcount and found out that only one person could not be accounted for by officials stationed at the Isolation centre out of the 127 persons.

“The State Government is currently investigating the matter and will ensure that the missing person is brought back to the Isolation centre and we will also ensure we trace all his contacts.

“We want to reiterate that any official(s) found culpable will also be dealt with accordingly,” she said.

The Commissioner residents of the state that the government would “continue to do everything to protect the lives of our citizens in this fight against Coronavirus.”