Three persons who had contact with a Covid-19 positive patient, who died of the disease, have tested positive for the virus, the Ekiti State Commissioner for Health said on Saturday.

The three new cases were primary contact of the deceased the state’s third confirmed case, a pregnant 29-year-old mother who sneaked into the state despite the ban on interstate travel.

Dr Mojisola Yaya-Kolade said the three persons were already undergoing 14 days isolation before the result of their samples were returned positive from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control [NCDC].

“Ekiti State Government can confirm that three of the samples sent to the NCDC accredited laboratory for testing have returned positive results of the COVID-19 virus infection,” she said in a statement.

“The samples were from three of the primary contacts of our third case, the late 29-year-old mother who died of complications from childbirth on April 22, 2020.”

Adding,

“The new positive cases are all females with ages ranging from 26-50 years, who had been in self-isolation for 14 days now.”  

The third case, a pregnant health worker, who sneaked into the state from Lagos despite the lockdown, was attended to over childbirth complications in three health facilities before she was tested for COVID-19.

Yaya-Kolade said that the three new cases “bring the total confirmed cases in Ekiti State to 11, of which eight are active, two discharged and one death”.