BEDC’s Manager Identified As First Case Of Coronavirus To Die In Delta

A Business Manager of Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC Warri Area Office, Engr. Awuta, has been identified as the first Deltan to die from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the state.

BIGPEN had reported that the deceased had visited Lagos, the epicenter of the deadly virus in the past two weeks before he was checked into a private clinic where he spent days on admission after being symptomatic to the infection.

Sources privy to the development revealed that while on self-treatment at the clinic, he reportedly developed complication and was reported to officials who subsequently transferred him to State isolation centre at the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara where he eventually died.

BIGPEN understands that the patient, as was confirmed by the state government Thursday night, had developed severe coronavirus symptoms before he was moved to the state facility for adequate attention.

Sources said that the deceased who was a pastor at the Deeper Life Bible Church had history of prolonged High Blood Pressure, (HBP) which he has been battling.

Findings revealed that the clinic where he was first admitted, Gifted hands Clinic and Maternity in Ugbori, off Ekurede -Itsekiri road, has been quarantined and sealed by authority of Warri South Local Government Area.

The building where the clinic is situated is a residential apartment.

The clinic is just occupying an apartment in the storey building which was lock down by security operatives drafted from police ‘A’ Division in Warri.

“Surprisingly, the action met resistance from some residents of the densely populated settlement. The storey building where the clinic is situated, has residential occupants, with the clinic occupying just one of the flats hence the protest” one resident said.

Sources also disclosed that the officials of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, (NCDC) in the state alongside the COVID-19 taskforce in the council area, have started contact tracking to the BEDC office, located besides former Delta State Governor’s Office Annex on Warri/Sapele Rd, near the Warri South Council Secretariat.

Both residents of the building and staffers at the BEDC office were asked to exercise precautionary measures and go into self-isolation for 14-days, a source said.

The deceased passed away on Thursday, according to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, just after the result of his blood sample from Irrua Specialist Hospital in Edo state came back positive for coronavirus.