A London returnee to Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area, Delta State, (name withheld), who reportedly assaulted Surveillance Officers of the Emergency Operation Committee on COVID19 have been arrested and forced to go on self-isolation.
According to Vanguard, the man who reportedly returned from London on March 23rd and refused to isolation was said to be moving freely in the town without observing the 14 days mandatory self-isolation period.
Peeved by his behaviour, some residents of the community according to a reliable source, reported the matter to Surveillance Officers of the Emergency Operation Committee on COVID19, adding that the returnee assaulted the team members who went to his residence with the intention of advising him to go on self-isolation.
The returnee was subsequently apprehended and taken to Okpanam Police Station for questioning but was not detained for fear of spreading the virus in case he has been infected.
Confirming the incident in a statement, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye, said “Surveillance Officers who acted on the information of a returnee from London that failed to self-isolate in line with government directives were assaulted by the returnee.
Ononye in the statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry, Mr Donald Ojobo, said members of the Okpanam Community had reported of a case of a recent returnee from London who did not self-isolate.
He said the officers who promptly responded by visiting him were assaulted by the returnee.
The returnee who later apologised said he was angry because he was being “treated like a leper” since his return from London, adding that his rudeness to Covid 19 surveillance officers was a transfer of aggression.
Meanwhile, the returnee has since been escorted home where he is currently under self-isolation under the watchful eyes of the security personnel and will be monitored daily by the Surveillance team until the mandatory self-isolation period was completed.
