The Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) has said that late Mr Gebe Ebong, a health care worker with Wuse General Hospital, Abuja did not die of coronavirus.
The FCT Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Tony Ogunleye, said this while responding to a question on the cause of the death of the nurse who passed away on Friday, April 24 in Abuja.
Ogunleye said that Dr Mohammed Kawu, Acting Secretary Health and Human Services Secretariat FCT, confirmed that the nurse did not die of COVID-19.
He, however, said that Kawu did not disclose the cause of the death of the nurse who was living in Chika, Airport Road, Abuja.
A senior staff of the FCT who preferred anonymity had earlier in a text message said: “the health care worker was a nurse, not a doctor, working with Wuse District Hospital.
“He died of unknown cause. His body has been evacuated by the health department after sample were taken for testing.
“His house was subsequently decontaminated.”, the statement added.
One of the residents who lived very close to him said that the late nurse complained that he was not feeling fine when he came back from work that day.
According to him, the deceased later vomited and died that night, adding that the co-tenants invited the police but when the officers came they instructed the tenants to call the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
He said that the NCDC officials came kitted with ambulance the following day to carry his corpse and latter sprayed chemical in the house and the area.
The traditional ruler of Chika, Chief Istifanus Shegaju, who corroborated his claim said he was told that late Ebong went to work on that particular day and complained of headache before leaving office.
According to him, the nurse later died in the night.
“The tenants who were apparently scared because of the prevailing condition of COVID -19 in the country called the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, FCT, that came to evacuate his body,” he said.
He said that the decontamination of his house and the environment by the NCDC officials possibly heighten the fear of the co-tenants and other residents of the area that the man died of COVID-19.
The traditional ruler said he had, however, calmed the situation, having explained to the residents that the late health care worker did not die of COVID-19.
He said that from the report he gathered from the authority stated the sample collected from the late nurse was tested COVID-19 negative.
The Chief however, urged the people to keep to the safety rule of the pandemic, by staying indoor, keeping social distancing and maintaining personal hygiene among others.