By Theophilus Onojeghen
The second case of the COVID-19 in Delta State who was announced to have died on Thursday from the pandemic was a pastor, NIGER DELTA TODAY Online can authoritatively report.
Findings by this medium revealed that the deceased was a 57-year-old pastor (name withheld).
He was a Warri-based pastor with his church located in popular area of the city.
He died before the result of his test was released on Thursday evening.
According to sources the deceased died on Wednesday at the isolation centre of the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DELSUTH), Oghara.
Our sources who pleaded with NIGER DELTA TODAY Online not to reveal the name of the church and that of the pastor, said the State COVID-19 Rapid Response Team had already commenced contact tracing of the deceased.
The deceased before being moved to Oghara where he subsequently died was hospitalised at a popular private hospital in Warri where he spent several days.
He was learnt to have last preached at his church over two weeks ago.
“He died on Wednesday while we were still expecting result of his test from Irrua Specialist Hospital. He’s a popular pastor in Warri. He was 57-year-old cleric.
“His health had deteriorated before he was brought to the isolation centre because of the symptoms he was exhibiting.
“We were all shocked when the result confirmed he was positive of coronavirus”, one of the sources said.
Recall that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa had confirmed the death of the deceased without revealing details of the patient.
Okowa had in a post on his verified Twitter handle on Thursday evening said, “I have just been informed of another case of #COVID19 in Delta State.
“The individual in question, had underlying health issues and had visited Lagos State in the past two weeks.
“The patient presented himself late to one of our hospitals with severe symptoms including difficulty in breathing and was given the necessary attention by healthcare professionals. Shortly after the specimen was taken, he passed away. However, his test results came back positive today.”
