55-year-old man who failed to disclose travel history dies of COVID-19 at LUTH

A 55-year-old man, who was admitted to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, has died of complications from COVID-19, according to PUNCH.

The newspaper quoted a source as saying the patient died on Friday morning.

The deceased reportedly had underlying health issues. He was said to have been hypertensive and diabetic.

He reportedly arrived LUTH emergency unit on Thursday night complaining of “malaise, tremors, and fever” and was also diagnosed with acute chronic kidney disease and sepsis.

He was reportedly sent to the “spillover unit” of the hospital because of the unavailability of bed space. But when he developed complications, a junior doctor at the accident & emergency unit was said to have reviewed his case and notified the senior registrar of his suspicion.

According to the source, the patient did not disclose his travel history to Holland and died “a few hours” after he was admitted.

The hospital was said to have discovered that the patient had COVID-19 when a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was conducted on his blood posthumously.

“Fingerprint antibody test was done on him, confirming his COVID-19 infection,” the source was quoted to have said.

“The man did not give his travel history or the fact that he had contact with someone who had travelled overseas.

“He told the doctors that he had no history of coughs, sore throat, joint pains or diarrhea. After the Senior Registrar reviewed his case and confronted him with their findings, the man revealed the true story about his travels and his fear that he might have contracted COVID-19 and died shortly afterward.

“He confessed that he had been coughing and that he had returned from Holland two weeks ago, where he had gone for follow-up treatment after a renal transplant he also had there.

“When confronted after the man’s death, his family members said they withheld the information about his likely COVID-19 infection because they were afraid that LUTH would reject him if they disclosed his true state.”

The state coronavirus emergency workers have reportedly taken the remains of the deceased away.

As of 11am, Nigeria had 190 cases of coronavirus and two deaths. Of the 190 cases, Lagos has 98. The state has, however, discharged 23 patients who have recovered from the disease.