Edo Governor Obaseki says no record of Indian COVID-19 variant in the state as speculated on social media

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Friday said there was no record of Indian COVID-19 variant in the state, as was speculated on social media.

The governor stated this in Benin at a news conference to provide an update on COVID-19 response in the state.

Mr Obaseki was represented by the Permanent Secretary from the state Ministry of Health, Osamwonyi Irowa.

He said the federal government had on April 26, taken precautionary steps by restricting international travel from India, Brazil and Turkey to curtail COVID-19.

“We as government have reached out to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) with regards to any Indian variant in Edo and the verified information reveals that the said sample was collected in January.

“There is currently no update or report suggestive of any such occurrence or new case of COVID-19 reported within Edo in the past 96 hours.

“Edo has witnessed a 12.9 per cent drop in the number of infected persons comparatively,” he said.

According to him, there has also been a 23.5 per cent comparative increase in the number of older persons infected with COVID-19 in the two waves of COVID-19 in the state.

Mr Obaseki said that the prevalence of COVID-19 among young persons, especially school children in Edo was low, as it has dropped by 18.5 per cent comparatively for the first and second wave.