By Victor Ogunje
The Ekiti State Government has prohibited movement of corpses into the state, as a 29-year-old woman who died of Covid-19 is buried according to Islamic right.
The woman, who slid into coma during labour before being diagnosed of coronavirus infection, died on Wednesday, at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mojisola Yaya-Kolade, said this in Ado Ekiti Fiday during a Covid-19 update press briefing in the state.
Yaya-Kolade added that the woman was buried on Thursday in Ado Ekiti by the government and the family, in strict compliance with the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Reeling out the statistics of index cases of coronavirus in Ekiti State, she said: “As of now, we have only recorded four cases. We have one active, one dead, two discharged cases.
“The 45-year-old doctor who was infected by the dead victim is responding to treatment in our isolation centre.
“The young woman has been buried according to Islamic rites. And the government of Ekiti State will liaise with the family on how to raise the surviving baby.”
The commissioner said the private hospital where the dead woman was operated upon, leading to the infection of the doctor has been shut.
She added: “We are also procuring more protective kits like mask, hand gloves and sanitisers for low risk of contact of the disease.”
Yaya-Kolade stated that no doctor had been reported to have behaved in unprofessional manner to intending patients, saying such act won’t be tolerated in any public health institutions in Ekiti.
The commissioner also directed private hospitals intending to treat Covid-19 patients to register in line with the directive of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Also speaking on the intention of Governor Kayode Fayemi to make the state safe, the Director General, Office of Strategic Transformation and Delivery, Prof. Bolaji Aluko, said commuters who wanted to forcefully enter the state were being arrested and quarantined at their own expense or sent back at the borders.
“For this period of lockdown, corpses will not be allowed into Ekiti, since there is no way we can verify the cause of the death. All corpses must be stopped at the borders and this we have conveyed to the security,” Aluko said.
The Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Gbenga Agbeyo, added that all the major markets like Oja Oba, Oja Bisi, and Shadha market in Ikere and others remained closed, while sellers of essential commodities are to sell within their localities.
The Information Commissioner, Mr. Muyiwa Olumilua, allayed the fears of the residents about the looming shortage of food in the state owing to blockage of borders, saying efforts will be made to make essential commodities available during the lockdown.
Olumilua applauded the federal government, individuals, corporate bodies and institutions, for donating generously to contain the spread of the disease in Ekiti.
