COVID-19: 181 pupils, test positive in Lekki private school

The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, on Friday, said 181 pupils and staff members of a private school located in a suburb of Lekki have tested positive for COVID-19 during surveillance and case investigation in the school.

Abayomi, in a statement from the ministry’s Director, Public Affairs, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, noted that the total population of the school is 441, while explaining that a 14-year-old SS1 female pupil fell ill on October 3 and was sent home after receiving first aid at the school.

the Kaduna State University branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities has opposed the university’s management plan resumption of the institution after several months of lockdown, saying 17 students were infected.

This is just as the Nigerian Union of Teachers said on Friday that the Lagos and Kaduna state governments must take proactive steps’, including the closure of identified schools to ensure that the COVID-19 outbreak is curtailed.

“There is a total lockdown and movement restriction in the school with the Epidemiology and Surveillance Pillar of the emergency operations centre and Ibeju-Lekki LGA State Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer reporting at the school daily to conduct further investigation, while positive pupils and staff have been isolated on their premises and given the COVID-19 home-care treatment packs and are being monitored in isolation within the school premises.

The Lagos commissioner said the pupil subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 on October 6 in one of the accredited private labs in Lagos.

Abayomi said the parents had been contacted and counselled via a family Zoom call on October 13 to further allay their fears as communication between school authorities and parents continued.

Pupils are to be isolated in the school premises and, if unwell, they will be admitted in one of the accredited isolation centres in Lagos. Pupils are discouraged from going home to avoid infecting members of their families.

The Ministry of Health is working closely with the Ministry of Education to jointly manage this minor and significant outbreak in this boarding school. I am pleased to announce that all the infected pupils are predominantly asymptomatic, while some have very mild symptoms; no pupil has required hospitalisation.