Osun State discharges eight COVID-19 patients

• Two abscond from isolation centre in Oyo
• First Technical varsity produces digital, mechanical ventilators

Osun State government has announced the recovery and discharge of eight COVID-19 patients, including two children, from its isolation centre. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr. Rafiu Isamotu, who disclosed this in a statement, said that the state had not recorded any new case in the last 24 hours but is awaiting test result of one sample sent to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) accredited testing centre. He said with the recovery and discharge of the patients, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state had dropped from 10 to 2.

“Today, we discharged eight patients who have tested negative twice for the Coronavirus from our isolation centre, comprising three males and five females, including two children of ages two and five years.

“No new case has been recorded in the state in the last 24 hours, though we await a test result of a sample from the NCDC accredited testing centre; African Centre of Excellence in Genomics of Infectious Diseases, Ede,” the commissioner said.

However, two Coronavirus patients in Oyo State have run away from isolation centre. Governor Seyi Makinde, who disclosed this in his Twitter handle yesterday, said: “We have received more results from the pending COVID-19 confirmation tests.

“Of the 33 active cases being managed by the state, two have absconded, possibly to their permanent places of residence. This brings the number of active cases in Oyo State to 31.

“Ten cases are self-isolating while 21 cases are being managed in the isolation centres in Oyo State.”

Meanwhile, in all the boundaries between Osun and Oyo states visited by The Guardian, none of them has testing facility. Also, it was alleged that security men had turned the boundaries to brisk business where they openly collect graft from trucks and commercial bus drivers.

Some citizens, who spoke with The Guardian on condition of anonymity, said the boundaries had allegedly been turned to goldmines.

In another development, the First Technical University (Tech-U), Ibadan, has produced two prototypes of digital and mechanical ventilators. Led by Dr. Olawale Ajibola from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Tech-U’s team of researchers, engineers and technologists presented the two prototypes to the management of the university during the unveiling of the ventilators on Tuesday.

Ajibola, who explained the making of the equipment, stressed that a ventilator or respirator is an appliance for artificial respiration. saying: “This design employs humidifier, compressed air, oxygen inlet and electro-pneumatic valves for its operation. This design is fully automated.”