The Edo State government on Monday confirmed the death of a 33-year-old pregnant woman and 15 other COVID-19 cases in the state.
The Head of the state’s COVID-19 Case Management, Dr. Ebomwonyi Osagie, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Benin, said the woman died at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital in the state capital.
He said the victims were not vaccinated.
Osagie said: “This particular patient came in and died about three hours after presentation at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital. Late presentation is a major issue in managing crises.
“She was about 28 weeks pregnant, already having pre-eclampsia, so, the debate is actually if it is the pre-eclampsia that killed her or COVID-19.
The woman has COVID-19 which pushed her more toward developing pre-eclampsia and then death. Some other women have pre-eclampsia and are successfully managed.
“Late presentation was an issue because the patient died three hours after the presentation. This means that there was little that would have been done to manage the situation. So, we are appealing to private hospitals to let patients go very early for treatment.
“So far we have collected 537 samples with a total of 1,004 confirmed cases. 103 patients recovered and were discharged and 16 deaths recorded within 48 hours.
“We have 70 people in admission, 296 people in-home care, 344 discharged, and 50 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.”