Mohammed Atiku-Abubakar, a son of Nigeria’s former vice-president, has now tested negative for coronavirus.
“I have just received my second consecutive negative result,” Mr Atiku-Abubakar told newsmen on Monday afternoon. “My discharge is currently being processed, and I hope to be home this evening.”
Mr Atiku-Abubakar was first confirmed to have contracted the virus on March 19 and was subsequently transferred to an isolation centre on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The 31-year-old, however tested negative for the virus 40-day after, making him the longest to recover in the country since the first infection was confirmed in Lagos February 27.
Some prominent Nigerians known publicly to have contracted COVID-19 were treated and discharged within 14 days.
Why Mr Atiku-Abubakar took so long to recover from a disease known to be mostly virulent amongst people above 65 remained unclear, although some scientists estimated the virus could last as long as 37 days in a human’s body.
