COVID-19: In LUTH, 55-year-old Man Died of Coronavirus

An unidentified 55-year-old man who was admitted to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, has died of coronavirus (COVID-19) complications.

According to a reliable source at LUTH, the hospital discovered that the patient had COVID-19 after he tested positive to the virus when a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test was done on his blood posthumously.

“Fingerprint antibody test was done on him, confirming his COVID-19 infection,” the source told The Punch.

It was gathered that the man who was presented at LUTH’s emergency unit on Thursday night with “malaise, tremors, and fever was hypertensive and diabetic.

The 55-year-old man was also diagnosed with acute chronic kidney disease and sepsis.

According to the source, the man did not disclose his travel history and had died “a few hours” after his admission to LUTH.

“The man did not give his travel history or the fact that he had contact with someone who had travelled overseas.

“When asked, he told the doctors that he had no history of coughs, sore throat, joint pains or diarrhoea,” the source added.

The source said when the man developed complications, a junior doctor (Reg) at the Accident & Emergency Unit reviewed his case and notified the Senior Registrar of his suspicion.

“After the Senior Registrar reviewed his case and confronted him with their findings, the man revealed the true story about his travels and his fear that he might have contracted COVID-19 and died shortly afterwards.

“He confessed that he had been coughing and that he had returned from Holland two weeks ago, where he had gone for follow-up treatment after a renal transplant he also had there.

“When confronted after the man’s death, his family members said they withheld the information about his likely COVID-19 infection because they were afraid that LUTH would reject him if they disclosed his true state,” the source, a caregiver, told The Punch.

The man died early Friday morning, and the Lagos State coronavirus emergency workers took away his body.