EXCLUSIVE: COVID-19 Hits Queen’s College Lagos As Pupils Test Positive, Health Officials Collect Over 200 Samples

Some pupils of the Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos State, have tested positive to COVID-19 while a few symptomatic others have been isolated at the school bay, according to information reaching SaharaReporters from multiple credible sources.

On Friday, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, led other health emergency officials to the school to collect the samples of about 200 pupils for COVID-19 tests, according to school teachers who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Some of our pupils were exposed to the virus, and they have symptoms. So, the state officials were called in to collect their samples. About six pupils had tested positive to the virus earlier, and they have been taken to a treatment facility in town,” a female teacher explained.

“All the pupils are the target for sampling. There are about 600. But on Friday, over 200 pupils’ samples have been taken by the officials. I don’t know how many pupils tested positive initially, but there are quite a number of them,” another top staff of the school added.

The Queen’s College, Yaba, founded in 1927, is one of the oldest elite schools in the state, often referred to as the girls’ version of the King’s College.

The Lagos State Government confirmed in a statement on Friday that pupils of “a public school” tested positive to the virus, although it chose not to name the school.

The statement reads in part, “Lagos State Government has confirmed positive COVID-19 cases in a secondary boarding school on the mainland. A member of the school’s staff was confirmed positive for COVID-19 on November 2.

“The staff member fell ill for a few days and received first aid at the school clinic. She subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, November 2 at the Lagos State Biobank. Steps are being taken to contain the spread within the school and reduce exposure to the outside community. All parents are being contacted first through the PTA, and a family zoom call is being arranged to allay their fears further.

“Students who test positive are to be isolated in the school premises and, if unwell, will be admitted to one of the accredited isolation centres in Lagos. Students are discouraged from going home to avoid infecting members of their families.

“Members of the Emergency Operation Center Lagos, NCDC and our counterparts in the Ministry of Education have been deployed in the school to provide strategic interventions and support. These include psychosocial support, infection prevention control, medical monitoring and risk communication experts to enlighten further affected people.”

The Queen’s College is not the first school where many pupils have been found positive to COVID-19 in the state.

On October 16, the government confirmed COVID-19 cases in a private boarding school in the Lekki area.

The health commissioner, Abayomi, had disclosed that 181 students and staff members at the private school tested positive to the virus, out of a total 441 school population.

After weeks of observed reduction in cases in Lagos State, the state had in the last week ben experiencing a surge, fuelling fears that a second wave of the virus was imminent.

The Lagos State Government only on Wednesday stressed the need for residents to strictly adhere to precautionary measures against COVID-19 infection to prevent the much-feared second wave.

The socio-economic implications of the virus, such as another lockdown are primarily the worry of most residents of the state.

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