The Kebbi State Government on Saturday announced the death of a COVID-19 patient who was said to have earlier absconded from the hospital after his samples were taken to be tested for coronavirus.

The 60-year-old man was said to be diabetic and hypertensive.

Yahaya Sarki, state governor’s Special Adviser on Media, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists.

Sarki quoted the state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Jaafaru Mohammed, as making the disclosure while giving a situation report on the pandemic in the state.

The deceased was the second case of the virus in the state.

The statement quoted the commissioner as saying, “The second case (of COVID-19 in the state) was a patient from the Federal Medical Centre, Birnin Kebbi. He was a 60-year-old man, a known diabetic and hypertensive patient.

“He was brought to the centre from the Usman Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, by his relatives.

“After reviewing the case by a consultant, COVID-19 was suspected and our Rapid Response Team swung into action.”

The commissioner was further quoted as saying that the deceased’s samples were taken for test on April 25 while he absconded before he could be taken to the isolation centre.

He added, “The corpse was taken to UDUTH mortuary, contrary to the earlier claim that it was taken to Benue State for burial.

“On April 29, 2020, the result of his test turned out to be positive and the contacts tracing team swung into action.”