Nigeria records first death from coronavirus
Nigeria has joined the league of countries which have recorded deaths from the coronavirus pandemic.
The country recorded its first death from the disease on Monday.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed the development in its update on the disease.
The victim is a former managing director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Suleiman Achimugu.
The 67-year-old native of Kogi state died at 2am on Monday morning.
According to the NCDC, Achimugu had underlying medical issues and had been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer before he returned to the country.
Abubakar, a relative of Achimugu, said the deceased developed unusual symptoms before he died.
He said the victim had a normal temperature after he arrived from to the country from UK.
The relative said Achimugu underwent 14 days self-isolation but developed “unusual symptoms” a week after he completed the isolation exercise.
He said the victim had called the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) after which he was moved to the coronavirus isolation centre in Abuja for testing.
“When he got back on March 10, his temperature was okay that he could still take extra precaution by self-isolation for 14 days. That was exactly what he did,” he said
“But after a week in isolation, he started unusual symptoms similar to those publicised on COVID-19. He called the NCDC personally to come to visit and run a test.
“He was experiencing symptoms that were alien to him. After the tests, a day after, the results were made available which came out positive, which was on Saturday.
“Then they arranged that he be evacuated to the COVID-19 centre in Abuja.”
Achimugu died while receiving treatment and has been buried according to Islamic rites.
Nigeria has a total of confirmed 36 coronavirus cases with two already recovered.
The virus has spread to five states namely Lagos (25 cases) Oyo (1 case), Ogun (2 cases), Ekiti (1 case) and Edo (1 case).
The Federal Capital Territory, Abuja also has seven cases of the virus.
