Ogun State Government has explained that the three new positive cases of COVID-19 recorded in the state are Togo returnees intercepted at Imeko area of Imeko-Afon Local Government.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had on Tuesday reported an additional eight cases for Ogun.

The government said the returnees were heading to Sokoto and Jos through the Imeko border before they were stopped and tested for coronavirus.

The state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr.Tomi Coker, disclosed this on Wednesday while addressing journalists after a visit to the 250-bed specialist hospital in Abeokuta by the officials of the NCDC.

Coker said 10 of the returnees, including a driver and a conductor, were accosted at the Benin Republic border in the State on Sunday.

The commissioner said, “From the eight cases, five came from a cluster, it was the same cluster we got the five cases from; then, about 72 hours ago, we had eight returnees from Togo heading to Sokoto and Jos. We housed them here with a driver and a conductor, making 10 of them. We tested them about 48 hours ago, and out of the 10, we got eight results, so far, out of which three were positive.”

When asked about their nationalities, Coker said, “They are Nigerian citizens, returning to the nation, they were met at the border of Imeko.

“They are Nigerians returning from Togo. The important thing is that these are reported case and if we don’t deal with them now, we might have issues of community spreading.”

On the five cases transferred from Lagos to Ogun State, the commissioner said the cases lived in Ogun but worked in Lagos and decided to go for the test in Lagos.