Lagos health commissioner Akin Abayomi Friday announced new incidences of COVID-19 positive cases in another secondary boarding school in the state.

Professor Abayomi in a press statement said that a staff of the school tested positive for COVID-19 at the Lagos State Biobank on November 2 after initially receiving first aid for an illness at the school clinic.

Mr. Abayomi noted that contact tracing revealed that a student and four contacts of the staff member were positive for COVID-19.

“Most of the infected persons are predominantly asymptomatic, while some have mild symptoms,” he said.

The commissioner said that the state COVID-19 Incident Command System through the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) was investigating the incident

“We would like to assure members of the public and stakeholders of the school that the situation is completely under control,” Mr. Abayomi said. “All parents are being contacted first through the PTA and a family zoom call is being arranged to further allay their fears.”

The health commissioner noted that COVID-19 presents with very mild symptoms in children and teenagers, compared to other age groups.

He however warned that there was risk of infected children transmitting the disease to adults who they interact with daily, and who might be at higher risk of severe disease and death.

“Students who test positive are to be isolated in the school premises and, if unwell, will be admitted in one of the accredited isolation centres in Lagos.

“Students are discouraged from going home to avoid infecting members of their families,” he said.

According to him, the Ministry of Health and NCDC are working closely with the Ministry of Education through a joint approach to manage the outbreak in the school.

The Lagos State government had on October 16, disclosed that 181 students and staff of a boarding school in Lekki, tested positive to COVID-19 infection.

The cases were discovered after a 14-year-old SS1 female student fell ill on October 3, was sent home after receiving first aid at the school clinic, and tested positive to COVID-19 on October 6 in one of the accredited private labs in Lagos.

COVID-19 surveillance and case investigation in the school detected 181 positive cases among students and staff out of the 441 population in the school.

(NAN)