Lagos and Ogun state governments have identified at least 100 persons who had contact with the index case of Coronavirus disease in the country.
This is coming the placement of first coronavirus patient in Nigeria in a quarantine centre.
Subsequently, the contacts are being followed up as a precautionary measure against the spread of the virus in the states and the country at large.
Nigeria recorded its first coronavirus case on February 27 on a 44-year-old Italian businessman aboard a Turkish Airlines flight that arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Milan, Italy, having transited through Istanbul, Turkey.
The victim arrived in Lagos on Monday night, February 24 and was said to have spent the night in a hotel around the airport area before leaving for business in Ogun State on February 25.
Reports say he fell ill, after which he went to the hospital for checkup and he was diagnosed of the virus.
He was thereafter taken to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos. However, authorities said the patient was clinically stable.
Speaking on February 29, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi, said the patient was clinically stable and had no signs of respiratory symptoms which could make his infection contagious.
Abayomi also stated that over 100 contacts with the Coronavirus index case had been identified and followed up.
In an interview with Channels TV, the commissioner noted that the patient is at the Emergency Operation Centre at the Mainland Hospital in Yaba, where the patient was being quarantined.
Abayomi revealed that;
By Saturday, his symptoms had subsided. He hasn’t developed any respiratory symptoms and we are quite happy about that because if he has respiratory symptoms like coughing and sneezing, which makes the disease more contagious and the 100 persons the Italian had contact with are being jointly monitored by Lagos and Ogun states.
Earlier in an interview with Arise TV, the commissioner said the authorities had identified the hotel room where the Italian patient lodged on Monday night and ‘the room and the entire would to be decontaminated today (Saturday) and to also identify the people who had contact with him in the hotel.’
Meanwhile,three Chinese nationals have been quarantined in Wase town, Plateau state for suspected case of the virus.
The state Commissioner for Information, Dan Manjang, disclosed this to Channels Television.
The report noted that the Chinese, who are workers in a mining site in Wase, flew into Abuja on Wednesday, February 26.
Manhang said;
The situation right now is that they have been isolated. The three of them came in through Abuja and once we heard that, the Commissioner for Health had to take a proactive measure to send a medical team to Wase to investigate.
The commissioner added that the quarantined Chinese nationals made their way to Jos, the Plateau State capital on February 27, adding that they were being clinically examined by a medical expert deployed by the state Ministry of Health.
However, he said there was no confirmed case of the virus in the state, and that people should remain calm.
In addition to efforts being made to contain the spread of Coronavirus in Nigeria, five foreigners who arrived at Margaret Ekpo International Airport in Calabar, Cross River State, on February 28 have been placed under observation following the detection of a carrier of the virus in Lagos.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Beta Edu, on Saturday said;
We profiled five foreigners who came in from locations that have recorded the virus and they came in through Lagos that morning (Friday). We got their biodata and asked them to self-isolate. And of course we gave them the thermometer and got their contacts.
We have been following up with them. None of them has shown any symptom so far. Two of the foreigners are from Europe, one from India and two from China.
She said sensitisation was being carried out and all entry points into the state were being manned by health workers to detect and prevent the spread of the virus in the state, adding that;
Our isolation centre is ready and protocols have been sent to all health workers. Special protective equipment have been sent to all health workers, the army, paramilitary agencies and private practitioners across the state.
