The Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri, says the COVID-19 index case in the state has rejected the result of the test.

Diri said this during a press conference on the state’s first COVID-19 case at the Government House, Yenagoa, on Monday.

Diri, who identified the index case as “a middle-aged female”, however, said the state government would not seek re-testing of the case “because it is a scientific test”.

The governor said she had been kept in the isolation centre at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, and in stable condition.

He said, “This new case of a middle-aged female, who presented herself at the Bayelsa Specialist Hospital, Yenagoa, is known to be hypertensive, diabetic and with a history of poor appetite, fever, headache, and non-productive cough and chest pain for about a week to date.

“She did not admit to any history of travel but was subsequently admitted at the Bayelsa Specialist Hospital for malaria with a query to COVID-19.

“She has strongly rejected the result. She is presently stable clinically, even though she is in a panic stage. All her contacts will be adequately traced and with environmental decontamination.”

According to him, the Specialist Hospital had been closed down and decontamination of the facility had commenced.

The governor also said all the health workers, including doctors and nurses, who were on duty when she presented herself, would be isolated and tested for the virus.