Ortom Confirms Wife, SSG, Others Test Positive for Covid-19

Ortom Confirms Wife, SSG, Others Test Positive for Covid-19
  • Encourages People to Go For Test

By George Okoh

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has confirmed that his wife, Dr. Eunice Ortom, and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Anthony Ijohor, have tested positive for Covid-19.

The governor, in a press briefing in Makurdi Saturday, also stated that his Chief of Staff, Hon. Terwase Orbunde, and the state Head of Service, Mrs. Veronica Onyeke, among others, also tested positive for the virus.

The governor, who said that though he tested negative, the first family has decided to go into total isolation including himself.

He therefore urged the people of the state to go for testing to ascertain their status and take necessary action.

“One lesson that I want Benue people to appreciate and understand is that everybody has to make himself available for testing. The more you test, the more you know your status; when you know that you are positive, then you can subject yourself to treatment,” he said.

When asked if government was considering another lockdown, the governor said the state Action Committee on Covid-19 would meet early next week to review the situation with a view to considering the next line of action.

While noting that testing positive for the virus is not a death sentence, Ortom urged the people of the state to take preventive protocols seriously in order to help stop the spread of the pandemic.

The governor’s wife had earlier issued a statement personally signed by her confirming her status and one of her sons, even as she called on people she might have come in contact with to go into self isolation and subsequent testing.

“While I have taken the responsibility to personally call everyone I can recall to have had recent contact with to go for testing, I advise anyone who has had close contact with me in the last 2 weeks and the public to go for screening and testing,” she stated.

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