A Senior Secondary School student in her final year, infected with COVID-19, is writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in Kwara State.
Unlike her colleagues who are present at the respective venues in the state, the patient is taking the examination from an isolation centre where she is being monitored.
The 16-year-old female student, whose name and school were withheld to avoid stigma, her papers under close supervision by an official of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
The Team Lead/Manager Case Management Team at the centre, Dr Kudirat Oladeji-Lambe, briefed reporters on the health status of the patient.
She said, “She (the patient) is asymptomatic, which means she does not show any symptoms and she’s stable. She is just here to observe her two weeks isolation process.”
Oladeji-Lambe confirmed that the patient was mentally and physically fit to write her examinations, adding that she had a contact with a close relative of her who tested positive.
She disclosed that the patient ended up at the isolation centre after she was confirmed positive for COVID-19 through contact tracing.
“The candidate was admitted yesterday (Tuesday). She missed a paper yesterday and we informed the authorities because as child advocates, once she had enrolled for WAEC, the government felt she has the right to write her papers.
“That’s why the state government thought it wise to arrange for her in order not to miss other papers,” said the medical practitioner.
She added, “The state government deemed it fit to arrange for her to have a safe place for her to write the exam without the fear of stigmatisation or risk to other students.”
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Kwara State has confirmed 913 cases of COVID-19, out of which 244 are active with 646 recoveries and 23 fatalities.
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