The Gombe state government Wednesday said seven students of the Government Girls Secondary School Doma tested positive to COVID-19.
The development brings the total number of students that had contracted the virus since reopening of schools in the state to eight.
A student of Government Science Secondary School Gombe, had earlier tested positive to the virus.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Dr. Habu Dahiru, who disclosed this while visiting the student on Wednesday, said the ministry, in collaboration with the state Task Force on COVID-19 had conducted 1,100 tests since schools reopened for students in exit classes.
The commissioner disclosed that the seven students were also writing the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Dahiru said: “We gave preference to students returning from epicentre states like Kaduna, Kano, Yobe and Lagos, those places that had registered high cases of COVID-19. So far, we have tested 1,100 cases, out of which the first case was from Government Science Secondary School.”
“He was immediately evacuated and isolated. He had written his first paper – Mathematics – and he is writing Agricultural Science today (Wednesday). It will be demoralising for him if we don’t allow him to write his exams.
“The government of Gombe state under the leadership of Governor Inuwa Yahaya said all students found to be positive to the virus should be taken care of. We have identified another set of students. We only got the results yesterday (Tuesday).
“Seven of them have been found to test positive to the virus. We are making arrangements to evacuate them to the isolation centre. We will not allow them to miss their papers because they tested positive.”
