Thirteen members of the Imo State House of Assembly have tested positive for COVID-19.
Spokesperson for Imo State COVID-19 Task Force, Chimezie Iwuala, disclosed this on Tuesday in Owerri, the state capital.
Iwuala said the discovery followed a number of tests carried out on samples of members of the House by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
He said the affected lawmakers have been advised to go into self-isolation.
The Assembly’s Chairman, Information and Judiciary Committee, Nelson Ezerioha, also confirmed the development, but said he didn’t have the exact figure of his colleagues who tested positive for the disease.
Ezerioha said, “You know it is against the law to disclose the identities of the carriers of the virus. The truth is that 26 out of the 27 of us, including the speaker, were tested and we have been receiving calls from the NCDC officials about our statuses.
“There are some of us who the NCDC told to go into self-isolation. I don’t know the figure and I am not going to speak on that. I was told by NCDC officials that I am negative.”
Last week, Speaker Collins Chiji ordered a total lockdown of the Assembly complex after one of the lawmakers tested positive for COVID-19.
The speaker had said the fumigation of the Assembly Complex would commence immediately.