Only one returnee COVID-19 patient is missing, not six – Osun Govt

The Osun State Government has disclosed that only a returnee among the isolated coronavirus victim in Ejigbo is missing against the six earlier reported by the media.

It stated the headcount of the returnees in the isolation centre revealed that only one cannot be accounted for by the officials in charge of the centre.

A statement signed by the State Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Funke Egbemode said the state government did not issue any statement to declare any six persons missing from the isolation centre.

She added that government is investigating the matter with a view to recovering the missing patient and traced all other persons the person might have had contact with.

The statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to a story purporting that six persons were missing from our Isolation centre in Ejigbo.

One of the writers quoted a non-existent statement from the government to lend some measure of credibility to the story.

Nothing can be further from the truth. As a government, we have not issued any statement to confirm or deny such story. Besides, a quick check showed that the name and number of the first person on the list of the purported missing patients are 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.

We implore members of the public to discountenance the alarm being raised. We will continue to do everything to protect the lives of our citizens in this fight against Coronavirus”.