Coronavirus: Gateman tests positive to COVID-19 in Kaduna

A gateman in Kaduna state has tested positive for COVID-19, the state government has announced on Saturday, April 11.

The gatekeeper whose name was not disclosed recently returned from Lagos state and has no connection to the first five confirmed cases in the state, Premium Times reports, citing a statement by Amina Baloni, the Kaduna commissioner for health.

She said with the latest case, the number of confirmed cases in the state as of Friday, April 10, was six.

The commissioner said that the latest case ‘’is a male who worked as a gateman in the Mando area and recently returned from Lagos.‘’

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has also tested positive for COVID-19
According to Baloni, the gateman had ‘’traveled to Kaduna on public transport and made contact with the authorities as his symptoms worsened. The patient has been evacuated to the state’s Infectious Disease Centre.”

She noted that the latest case indicates the possibility of community transmission of COVID-19 in the state.

‘’It is very difficult and complicated to trace the contacts of a patient who came from Lagos via public transport and had some instance of local commuting since his arrival,” she said.

She, however, said efforts are already ongoing to trace his contacts and monitor them to avoid contagion.