Thirteen more members of the Imo State House of Assembly have tested positive for coronavirus.
The spokesman for the State Task Force on COVID-19, Chinedu Iwuala, confirmed this on Tuesday.
The new cases were confirmed barely six days after a lawmaker, whose identity is yet to revealed, tested positive for the novel coronavirus in the state.
Iwuala, while announcing the status of the first infected lawmaker last week, stated that all other lawmakers in the state have been directed to get tested for coronavirus.
The tests conducted have now revealed that 13 more lawmakers have tested positive for the virus.
This brings the total number of lawmakers in the state who are COVID-19 positive to 14.
The infected lawmakers have gone into self-isolation and the State Assembly Complex in Owerri has remained shut since the first lawmaker was diagnosed with the virus.
On Monday, June 22, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced 9 new cases in Imo, bringing the total cases in the state to 243.
Meanwhile, Cross River state government has debunked rumors surrounding the death of a member of the state House of Assembly, Godwin Akwaji.
There are reports that Akwaji died from COVID-19 related issues at an isolation center in Cross Rivers.
However, at a press conference held in Calabar, the state capital on Tuesday June 23, the state Commissioner for Health, Betta Edu, said the late Akwaji was not COVID-19 positive as many suspected him to be.
She stressed;
We lost one of our House of Assembly members last weekend. We condole with the family. However, that death was not as a result of COVID19.
It is not medically correct to stand here and state the illness of anyone without due permission from the family or the next of kin. In as much as I would like to tell the world what our dear delegator probably went through, I do not have such medical right and it could cost me my certificate.
As at Monday night, there were a total of 20,919 confirmed coronavirus cases, 7109 cases successfully managed and 525 fatalities.
