Health authorities in Cross River State have dismissed reports of 10 new COVID-19 cases, clarifying that only one confirmed case has been recorded in the state.
The State Commissioner for Health, Henry Ayuk, made the clarification on Thursday.
“I want to tell Nigerians that the information circulating about 10 additional cases in Cross River is not correct; we have only one confirmed case,” Ayuk said.
He explained that the misinformation may have stemmed from reports of 10 identified contacts of the confirmed case, which were wrongly interpreted as positive cases.
The clarification follows the confirmation of a new COVID-19 case in Cross River after several years without recorded infections. The patient, a Chinese national, arrived in Nigeria from China on March 17 and travelled to Calabar for work before testing positive on April 17 after developing symptoms.
According to Ayuk, the patient is responding well to treatment and is currently being managed at an isolation facility in Calabar.
“He was initially treated at a local facility but was later referred to the teaching hospital in Calabar. He is now in isolation and improving daily,” he said.
The commissioner added that individuals who had close contact with the patient have been identified and placed under close observation for 14 days.
He noted that the state government activated its emergency response system immediately after the case was confirmed.
“This is an outbreak situation. Once you have a case, it is a risk to the entire population, so we are taking it very seriously,” Ayuk said.
“We have activated our public health emergency operations centre, including surveillance and risk management systems across affected local government areas,” he added.
