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COVID-19: Lagos govt recants statement on cause of Dubai returnee’s death

Published

5 years ago

May 15, 2020

The Lagos State Government on Thursday recanted its earlier statement on the COVID-19 status of the late 32-year-old Dubai returnee, saying outcome of his COVID-19 test “is negative”.

Prof. Akin Abayomi, the state Commissioner for Health, made the clarification through his verified Twitter account handle on Thursday night.

“I hereby inform the general public that the Nigerian, who recently returned from Dubai as part of a group of returnees who were placed in a #COVID-19 isolation programme in Lekki, developed complications and was transferred to one of our facilities where he died.

“Because of the sudden nature of his demise and without any prior knowledge of his multiple preexisting conditions, it was presumed to be a #COVID-19 related death, pending confirmation by #COVID-19 Gold standard test.

“This presumptive attribution is a precaution to ensure the safe clinical management of the patient and subsequent handling of the corpse.

“The definitive #COVID-19 gold standard test has turned out to be negative for the #COVID-19 infection, and his death is no longer considered to have been attributable to #COVID-19,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Abayomi had on May 12 announced that the 32-year-old Dubai returnee died from COVID-19 infection, due to his underlying conditions.

Abayomi had said that “death of the deceased makes the number of deaths recorded from COVID-19 in Lagos to be 34”.

The commissioner had on May 13, in a tweet, apologised for the mistake in presuming the cause of the death to be COVID-19 related, adding that result of a confirmation test was awaited.

“I regret any misinterpretation this post might have caused.

“The result of #COVID-19 test conducted will be published once it is ready,” Abayomi had tweeted.

He, however, noted that with the confirmation of the deceased COVID-19 test being negative, the numbers of COVID-19 deaths in Lagos now stands at 33.

[NAN]