JUST IN: Borno records second COVID-19 death

The Borno State government on Wednesday recorded a second death from the Coronavirus pandemic.

So far, Nigeria has a total of 782 cases of the respiratory disease with 25 deaths, POLITICS NIGERIA reports.

Meanwhile, the situation is not a hopeless one after all as 197 have recovered and had been discharged.

The Deputy Governor and the Chairman of the State Committee on COVID-19, Umar Kadafur, disclosed this while giving an update on the pandemic in the state.

According to him, the deceased is from Biu town of and already his contacts have been traced.

“One of his contacts is a trader in Biu market. Following this development, the state government has ordered the closure of market for immediate fumigation.

“As of today, 144 contacts had been traced, 55 were tested and nine people tested positive including the two who died,” he said.

He urged the public to maintain hygiene and other precautionary measures advised by experts.

This paper reports that the first case was a retired anesthetic nurse, who died at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital on Saturday. Sequel to the confirmation of the COVID-19 index case in Borno, Gov. Babagana Zulum ordered a two-week total lockdown as from Wednesday.

Zulum, who made the declaration in a broadcast in Maiduguri on Monday, however, said the restriction would not apply to the providers of essential services.

Recall that POLITICS NIGERIA reported how the state assembly postponed plenary indefinitely owing to the surge of the pandemic.