A man suspected to have contracted coronavirus [COVID-19] has reportedly died at a government hospital in Ipe Akoko, Akoko North East Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The death, on Tuesday, caused palpable tension among health officials and residents in three communities – Ikare Akoko, Oka Akoko and Ipe Akoko – in the area.

WuzupNigeria gathered that the deceased had sought treatment for an undisclosed ailment in hospitals located in the three communities.

Sources said he was first admitted at the State Specialist Hospital, Ikare Akoko and later transferred the General Hospital, Oka and later moved to General Hospital, Ipe Akoko.

It was gathered that family members of the deceased attempted to reach the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control [NCDC] in Owo but the agency’s officials allegedly claimed there were no logistics to come down to Ipe General Hospital to pick the patient for test.

It was also gathered that some of the health workers at those hospitals could not ascertain the COVID 19 status of the deceased until he gave up the ghost, causing panic among the health workers and residents of the communities.

One of the health officials on condition of anonymity said,

“The patient was brought in unconscious with a fever of 40 degrees Celcius, cough with grunting respiration.

“We called NCDC (officials) in the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, who promised to come to collect sample but they told us later that they can’t come again due to logistics and we should release the corpse to the relatives,

“Imagine that. Even the relatives that brought the patient yesterday ( Monday) were on gloves and mask, meaning they even suspected something.

“We couldn’t ascertain the travel record of the patient. The suspicious thing was why did they bring the patient from Ikare, to come to a remote area here?

In a reaction, however, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahaab Adegbenro who confirmed the incident, said the matter was not a case of coronavirus as being insinuated.

Adegbenro said the deceased died of an entirely different ailment, saying ” proper diagnosis was carried out on the patient by the medical personnel while on admission in the hospital.”

The commissioner noted that “the only patient who tested positive for covid19 at the FMC Owo is now receiving treatment at the Infectious disease hospital in Akure.”

He appealed to the people of Ipe Akoko not to be unnecessarily apprehensive as the government would not treat any coronavirus case with kids’ gloves.