Ikpeazu Is COVID-19 Free – Abia Govt Announces

The Abia State Government has announced that the state Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has recovered from the attack of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which has put him out of circulation for about a month.

The Governor has been receiving treatment for coronavirus since he was flown out of Abia for Abuja on June 6 in search of a cure.

Ikpeazu, who handed over to his deputy before proceeding for treatment in a private facility in the nation’s capital, has not seen in public for weeks.

BIGPEN had earlier reported based on a report in NewExpress that Ikpeazu had bounced back after he was sighted playing table tennis game in an undisclosed location on Thursday.

Confirming the development in a statement on Saturday, Chief John Okiyi Kalu, Commissioner for Information, said, “To the glory of God, repeat COVID-19 test conducted by Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on samples submitted by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu on Thursday, 2nd July, 2020, returned negative result on Friday, 3rd July, 2020.

“Governor Ikpeazu is therefore deemed free of the virus according to the extant guidelines of NCDC and the World Health Organization (WHO)”.

It would be recalled that three other state governors who contracted COVID-19 before Ikpeazu have since been successfully treated and returned to work. They are Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna).

Governors Dave Imahi of Ebonyi, Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo and Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta are the latest to contract the disease. The trio have since gone into isolation are currently receiving treatment.