Coronavirus: Bauchi govt seals UNICEF/WHO office as staff tests positive

The Bauchi State Government has announced that it has sealed the office complex shared by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) after one of their workers tested positive to the new coronavirus.

The office has now been closed for 14 days.

A statement issued on Sunday by the Bauchi State ministry of health indicated that the office complex was first decontaminated before it was officially sealed.

The statement, signed by Ibrahim Sani, on behalf of the health commissioner, Aliyu Maigoro, revealed that an unnamed staff of the WHO that recently traveled to Kano returned infected with the virus.

The commissioner who supervised the decontamination exercise and the subsequent sealing of the building in the company of the chairman, Bauchi State primary healthcare development agency, Rilwanu Mohammed, said sealing off the office became necessary for “the prevention and to de-escalate the spread of the coronavirus in the state.”

The statement said the health officials in the state had carried out contact-tracing of persons who had interacted physically with the latest confirmed case.

“All his contacts both in Bauchi and Kano have already been identified and isolated, and they under strict follow-up,” the statement reads.

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Bauchi State has not imposed any restriction on movement within its metropolis, neither has it enforced any form of social distancing order in public places; a development that leaves many wondering why the UNICEF/WHO should be singled out for such quarantine.

PREMIUM TIMES, however, learned that the sealed office has not been fully functional since March 23, as workers there have been asked to work from home since last month,

UNICEF’s Communication Officer in the Bauchi Office, Sam Kaalu, who is also working from home, confirmed the development.

With the latest case, Bauchi now has a total of seven confirmed coronavirus cases so far.