The Akwa Ibom state government says it has discharged 27 more COVID-19 patients who earlier tested positive.

Commissioner for Health, Dr Dominic Ukpong, who disclosed this on Wednesday, said the number discharged was highest since the first index case was recorded.

Ukpong said only 5 patients are presently in the isolation centre, adding that they are old cases, who would be re-tested to verify if they were still positive.

He noted that no health worker in the state have died due to COVID-19, and encouraged them to always guard their health as they were the first responders in the treatment of the disease.

“Today is the day we’ve had the largest number of discharged cases. We discharged 27 people today, and that is very large for this state. What makes it significant is that we have not recorded any loss.

“They are all going out without symptoms. They have been with us now for 19 days under good management by our management team. Thanks to His Excellency, Governor Udom Emmanuel and the team of the Incident Management Committee, with the encouragement, support, accommodation and all other facilities by the Chief Medical Director of Ibom Multi-Speciality Hospital.

“Those people discharged today are going out in good health, and I want to mention that their houses and families have already been contacted, they are in self-isolation, we manage them too.

“So they are returning to a safe environment. We have talked to them as we are talking to any other person who have left here on discharge, that it is important to maintain personal hygiene.

“This state has not recorded the death of health workers for this purpose, and I think it is glory to God that has not happened; and also credit to the Governor, who has provided avenue for training and re-training of people who took care of these patients.

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“We have progressed in the care for our COVID-19 patients in the sense that recently we have commissioned our isolation centre, the first of its kind in the state and one of the best we can find anywhere. Along with it, we also have a PCR level 3 molecular laboratory.

“We have just been told that we have gotten the certificate from the NCDC that the lab has more than met the requirements. In fact, they say it is the best in Nigeria, others say it is the best in Africa today.

“It cannot only test coronavirus, it can test other viruses, but beyond that, it can do RMA and DNA tests, that means it can actually merge cancer cells: cancer of the cervix, cancer of the breast, so it can tell whether you have it, so that you can commence treatment.

“It is a very comprehensive laboratory, that is why we say it is the best in Africa. One significant thing about it is that it is the first state established laboratory, all others across the country were established by the Federal Government,” he explained.