The Government of Delta State has confirmed the death of a 75-year-old woman as a result of Lassa Fever.

The State Government in a statement signed by the Director of information, Paul Osahor, said the incident occurred after the woman fell ill and went to the General Hospital, Umuolu, Ndokwa East Local Government Area (LGA) on Saturday, August 18, 2018.

She was then transferred to the Central Hospital, Kwale, Ndokwa West LGA the following day, August 19^th and from there was further referred to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba on August 24, 2018.

While at FMC, Asaba, the victim’s blood sample was taken to Irrua Specialist Hospital, Edo State for a test but she died on August 29, 2018, on the same day the hospital received the lab result which was confirmed positive to the Lassa virus.

The State Government has however urged the residents in the state not to panic, “as the officials of the Ministry of Health are on top of the situation, conducting contact tracing on those who had contact with the victim.”

The State Government further stated that findings have shown that it is over 21 days since the victim was attended to at the hospital in Umuolu and Kwale and no case has since been discovered, however, contact tracing is still ongoing at FMC, Asaba.

As part of measures to curtail the spread of the virus, the State Government has urged residents of the state to cultivate good personal hygiene, clean and fumigate their environment regularly, encourage community hygiene to prevent rodents from entering homes and protect food from rats, and to report cases of strange fever to the nearest hospital.

Channels