Coronavirus: Lagos, Ogun trace 100 in contact with patient as Plateau quarantines three Chinese

In furtherance to the placing of the patient of the Coronavirus disease, a 44-year-old Italian, in a quarantine centre, Lagos and Ogun state governments have identified at least 100 persons who had contact with the index case of the disease in the country.

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 had been spared of the coronavirus outbreak, which was first recorded in Wuhan, China, until it was detected on Thursday on an Italian businessman aboard a Turkish Airlines flight arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Milan, Italy, having transited through Istanbul, Turkey.

The victim arrived in Lagos on Monday night and was said to have spent the night in a hotel around the airport area before leaving for business in Ogun State on Tuesday morning.

He was said to have fallen ill, after which he tested positive for the virus. He was thereafter taken to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Yaba, Lagos.

However, authorities said the patient was clinically stable.

Speaking on Saturday, 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 said over 100 contacts with the Coronavirus index case had been identified and followed up.

In an interview with Channels TV, which was monitored by one of our correspondents, the commissioner stated this at the Emergency Operation Centre at the Mainland Hospital in Yaba, where the patient was being quarantined.

“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,” Abayomi said, adding that the 100 persons the Italian had contact with were being jointly monitored by Lagos and Ogun states.

Earlier in an interview with Arise TV, which was monitored by one of our correspondents, Abayomi said the authorities had identified the hotel room where the Italian patient lodged on Monday night.

“We’re going there this morning (Saturday) to decontaminate the room and the entire hotel. We will identify all the people who had contact with him in the hotel,” he said.

As part of measures to stop the spread of the disease in Plateau State, the state government said on Saturday that it had quarantined three Chinese citizens.

It said that the Chinese were quarantined in Wase town 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.

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 was also quoted to have said that the quarantined Chinese nationals made their way to Jos, the Plateau State capital, on Thursday, 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.

He said, “The problem that we have is that there is a tendency for people to think that investigation or quarantine, as the case may be, means that there is an outbreak of the virus.

“As far as Plateau case is concerned, there has been no known case of this virus on the Plateau; we just took proactive measures to make sure that we place them (the Chinese nationals) under investigation and that will take 14 days.”

The government, according to the commissioner, awaits the report of the team that was sent to Wase before taking the next step.