The mother-in-law of a woman who smuggled her husband’s corpse into Enugu State from Lagos has also tested positive for coronavirus, Enugu State Government said on Sunday.
The state government said this while confirming that the state had recorded two new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number to 18.
Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ikechukwu Obi, said in a statement that the first new case was a 45-year-old man who came into Enugu on May 21 from Lagos while the second was the 62-year-old mother-in-law of case 16 who had earlier tested positive for coronavirus.
“The first new case (Case 17) is a 45-year-old male who hails from Igbo-Eze North LGA of Enugu State and lives in Lagos State but still managed to make his way to Enugu State on the 21st of May, 2020 in spite of restrictions on inter-state movement,” he said.
“Concerned members of his community alerted the health authorities since he was already ill, leading to his assessment and testing and his result returned positive for COVID-19 on the 23rd of May 2020.
“The second new case (Case 18) is the 62-year-old mother-in-law of Case 16 who has become a positive contact.
“Case 16 as earlier reported evaded the inter-state boundary restriction, all the way from Lagos State and across several other states, obviously assisted by unscrupulous individuals to bury her recently deceased husband in their community in Igbo-Etiti LGA of Enugu State,” he said.
The commissioner urged residents to comply with the public health advisory of the Federal Ministry of Health, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Enugu State Ministry of Health.
