Situation worsens in Nigeria as 13 lawmakers test positive for covid-19

The Spokesperson of Imo State, Chimezie Iwuala, has revealed that 13 lawmakers of the House of Assembly have recently tested positive for Covid-19.

The legislators underwent testing for the coronavirus recently, with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) carrying out the tests.

Iwuala added that the infected persons were immediately advised to go into home-isolation.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Judiciary, Hon. Nelson Ezerioha, who was also tested, also confirmed the news, although he said he does not have the exact number of his colleagues who tested positive for the virus.

Ezerioha said, "it's against the law to disclose the identities of the virus carriers. The truth is that 26 out of the 27 of us, including the speaker, were tested and we have been receiving calls from the NCDC officials about our statuses."

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Self-isolation for lawmakers

Ezerioha also noted that some of his colleagues were advised to go into self-isolation in their homes, before announcing that his own test results were negative.

The assembly speaker Hon. Collins Chiji, requested a complete lockdown of the Assembly complex last week after a lawmaker had tested positive for coronavirus.

Nigeria is facing an uphill struggle against Covid-19 with the total number of confirmed cases increasing to 21,371, while 7,338 have recovered. There have been 533 deaths