No fewer than 30 members of staff of an organisation in Ibadan have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, confirmed this in a tweet on Saturday.
He further disclosed that the state has recorded 31 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the state to 107.
He said: “The COVID-19 confirmation tests for thirty-one suspected cases came back POSITIVE. Thirty of these cases are members of staff of the same organisation based in Ibadan South West Local Government Area. The organisation has been shut down and will be decontaminated.
“We urge members of the public to remain calm as the situation is under control. Intensified contact tracing has already commenced. We will give an update on any additional measures that may need to be taken.
“The remaining one case is from Egbeda Local Government Area. So, the total number of confirmed cases in Oyo State as at 8 PM today, is 107.”
Meanwhile, As of 09:20 pm 14th April there are 5621 confirmed cases of COVID19 reported in Nigeria. 1472 have been discharged with 176 deaths.
The number of samples tested has also increased as the country moved from 48 samples tested on March 15, to a total of 32,942 samples tested, exactly two months after, on May 15.
However, according to agency, the spike in the number of cases over the past few weeks points to a significant impact of community transmission.
For instance, on April 15, only six of Nigeria’s total of 407 confirmed cases were said to have contracted the virus from “unknown sources”. However, by May 15, a total of 3,489 patients out of 5,445 cases had no epidemiologic link.
With the increase in community transmission, there have been concerns over the possible declaration of another total lockdown.
While the initial five-week lockdown declared in Lagos, Ogun and the FCT was relaxed on May 4, and a nationwide curfew declared instead, the first phase of the two-week lockdown relaxation ends on May 18, and the presidential task force (PTF) on COVID-19 says the guidelines would be reviewed.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Sani Aliyu, the PTF national coordinator, said the federal government might take a different approach if the guidelines issued did not yield the expected results on limiting the spread of the coronavirus across the country.
“We will be taking further decisions based on the review of the performance of the restrictions that we have in place. And we will not hesitate to change our strategy if it looks like it is not working,” he had said.