Three COVID-19 patients in Akwa Ibom State certified free of the disease have been discharged and sent home.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Dominic Ukpong, who confirmed the discharge said the three patients have been successfully treated.
He stated that 30 samples out of the 31 sent for testing were negative, while only one was positive, adding that the state will not relent in ensuring that COVID-19 is minimized and contained.
He stated that construction work on the Grade Four laboratories to help in the testing of the disease is at advanced stage, noting that one of the laboratories would be sited in Uyo and the other at the nearly completed Isolation Facility in Ituk Mbang, Uruan local government area.
“We have just discharged three persons who have been successfully treated,” he said.
Two of the discharged patients include a medical doctor, Dr Otobong Asuquo and a Pharmacist, Ememobong Udoh, who both contacted the virus during a medical outreach organised in Ibesikpo Asutan local government area of the state.
The three cases brings the total number of discharged COVID-19 patients to six, freed from the state isolation facility.
Speaking on his discharge, Dr Otobong Asuquo, said he was going straight back to work, as contacting the disease would not change his vow to safe lives, noting that he would ensure his personal protection in the discharge of his duties.
He explained that having read about COVID-19 before his attack, he isolated himself for 10 days before the emergency response team of the state government picked him up.
Meanwhile the Commissioner for Works, Akwa Ibom State, Ephraim Inyangeyen, has denied reports that nine commissioners have tested positive to COVID-19 in the state.
Following the replacement of the State Epidemiologist, Dr Aniekeme Uwah with his assistant, Dr Dr. Ntiense Umoette last week, there were reports on the social media over the weekend that nine commissioners in the state had tested positive for COVID-19.
Reacting to the reports in a statement on Monday, Inyangeyen said all the commissioners in the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council are in sound health.
Inyangeyen, who described the claims on social media as “blatant lie from an insane and sponsored blackmailer’, challenged the originators of the story to mention the names of the affected commissioners and where they were treated.
He said, “To state the obvious, on Friday the 17th of April, we all gathered at the exco chambers where we had the usual state executive meeting with the Governor.
“And on the 19th, we all came out for college meeting, on the 24th of April, which was FGPC, all members attended, observing social distancing order by the Federal Ministry of Health without an exemption.”
“Why would someone cook up lies at this particular time where we all need encouragement, support, and positivity to keep us going day by day?” he asked.
He said as the commissioner in charge of the state’s ministry of works handling the ongoing construction of the Isolation Centre at Ituk Mbang, “I have had my colleagues stop by every day to see the progress of the work done.”
