There was panic in Bayelsa State on Friday following reports of two suspected index cases of COVID-19.
It was gathered that the two suspected cases reported themselves at the state Specialist Hospital near the Government House, Yenagoa, claiming to have contracted the virus.

The incident was said to have caused pandemonium as workers in the hospital, including doctors and nurses, took to their heels upon hearing the claims of the two persons.

A source, who witnessed the incident, said,

“Even the doctors, everybody ran away. You need to see people running away from the hospital. We saw when the governor came out of Government House, angry.”

The two persons were said to have arrived in the state last Saturday as a result of the alleged porosity of the boundary points.

Chairman of the state COVID-19 Task Force Implementation Committee, Dr Inodu Apoku, confirmed the incident but said the two cases did not fall within the protocol of coronavirus testing.

“Still, we took their blood samples and we are sending them to Irrua (Specialist Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Edo State). But actually, they don’t fall within the protocol of reporting,” Apoku said.

Although the state has yet to record any confirmed case of COVID-19, the incident was said to have prompted Governor Douye Diri to storm the boundary points with neighbouring Delta and Rivers states to enforce the inter-state lockdown directive.

The acting Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Daniel Alabrah, who confirmed this in a statement on Friday, said Diri first visited Adagbabiri, the boundary community to Patani in Delta State.