The Enugu State Rapid Response Task Force on COVID-19 and security agencies have intercepted a run-away COVID-19 patient from the Delta State Isolation and Treatment Centre.

Prof. Ikechukwu Obi, the state Commissioner for Health, made this known in a statement on Tuesday in Enugu.

Obi said that the run-away COVID-19 patient was intercepted in the state on Monday by the security agencies, in active collaboration with the Delta COVID-19 task force.

He said the arrest followed the directive by the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, that the absconded patient be located and returned to the Delta isolation centre.

The commissioner said that contact tracing of those who had contacts with the run-away patient and the decontamination of the places the patient had been to while in Enugu, had begun.

“The ministry, therefore, reminds the good people of the state that in times like these, we owe a responsibility to each other to inform relevant authorities when we develop symptoms or know someone who may have symptoms or history of cross boundary travel into the state”.

“The numbers to call are 08182555550, 09022333833, or the NCDC number 080097000010,’’ he said.

Enugu state has recorded a total of eight COVID-19 cases.

The state at present have six active cases receiving treatment while two others had been successfully treated and discharged. (NAN)