The Adamawa State Government has confirmed seven new COVID-19 cases.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ahmad Bashir, who is the State Chairman of COVID-19 Containment Committee, made the announcement on Monday.
Bashir said the seven bring to 12 the total number of cases in the state.
Ahmad Bashir, who briefed journalists at the COVID-19 Situation Room at the state Secretariat in Yola, said five of the new positive cases were direct contact of the first case in Mubi, while one new case is from Lamurde and another is an escapee from Gombe State.
He explained that the six new cases, minus the escape from Gombe, were from 40 sample results returned to the state out of the 63 samples sent to the Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC) laboratory in Abuja.
He expressed regret that Mubi is now the epicenter of the virus in Adamawa State, adding that the area may be locked down to curtail the spread of the virus.
Lockdown throughout Adamawa State was eased by Governor Ahmadu Fintiri on Sunday, and controlled movements within the state started Monday.
Fintiri had said while announcing the easing of the lockdown that two COVID-19 positive citizens of the state placed at an isolation centre in neighbouring Gombe State had escaped into Adamawa, that while one had been found and taken to the isolation centre in Yola, one was still at large.
He had concluded that the one who was found brought the number of cases in the state to five.
With the seven announced by SSG, with Mubi having five added to the first case there, Mubi now has six cases, as the SSG said, meaning that Mubi alone has the same number as the rest of Adamawa State put together.
Mubi, a major town described as Adamawa’s commercial nerve centre, comprises two local government areas: Mubi South and Mubi North, and is located on the northern tip of the state