As contact tracing of the index case of the dreaded Delta variant of COVID-19 continues in Oyo State, the State Incident Manager and Coordinator of the Emergency Operations Centre, Dr Taiwo Olabode Ladipo, said one contact got so far out of two possible contacts has tested positive and has been isolated at the state facility, while two persons were reported to have died of coronavirus in the state yesterday.
The Oyo State task force had on Sunday uncovered a case of Delta variant in the state. The incident manager, nonetheless, assured residents of the determination to ensure that contacts of the deceased persons are being followed up and anyone whose test result comes back positive would be immediately isolated.
The Guardian quoted Ladipo as saying that the state had five patients of COVID-19 at the state Infectious Diseases Centre, Olodo, Ibadan. “We are a freely mobile group of people and you have to understand that people have travelled all over the world. They still come back and one way or the other, one may have slipped through the net. You need to understand that because of the way we associate with our relatives that come in from other climes, the contact may have helped transmit the virus within the people.
“Two of the cases are deceased. But contact tracing is ongoing. We have got one of the contacts in isolation. Every form of effort is being put to ensure that all the contacts of everyone they have seen in the last two or three weeks are being followed up and anyone positive, we will ensure that isolation is done.”
While stating that the Delta variant was about 90 per cent more transmissible and faster to spread than the previous ones, he charged residents to go back to the system that worked in the past.
“The Delta variant is giving quite a lot of people concern around the world. It was the variant that gave a lot of infections and fatalities in India and as such, a lot of people are worried about its prevalence and transmissibility. I urge all to key into the precautions rolled out by the state government.”
